A Bridge of Flames
by ThirdCharm01
Summary: MN & SOC. After “the mission from hell”, Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.
1. Prologue

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc., and Warner Bros. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income had been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary. Though, not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Prologue

Ranger Marcus Cole awoke grudgingly. He had never been a morning person, and after the last several weeks, he believed he would NEVER become one. Marcus was still in pain and exhausted. Actually, he felt past exhausted. He felt as if he was mostly dead. He wanted to go back to sleep and not wake up for the next week. Hell, he wanted not to have to wake up ever again, but that bloody, incessant beeping wouldn't allow it. Marcus sighed as he thought back to the last three weeks of unadulterated hell. This mission had been The War, Hell, and Arisia combined for him. Everything that could have gone wrong had.

The sensor arrays on the White Star had been damaged before they had even arrived at the contact point, leaving them flying half-blind. The contact ship had been followed and the Shadows had found them. Their contact had been destroyed before the information they had had could have been relayed to their White Star. Their jump engines were damaged early on in the ambush by the Shadows. Then the almost hopeless nightmare of a running battle with the Shadow ships had started. Oh, God! Their ship, their crew! Marcus moaned. How many had died because of their combined miscalculations? How many more would die because that vital piece of information had been lost? He moaned again, knowing that the task of finding what was left of the survivors was now upon them. If nothing else went wrong, that is.

This mission had been a total failure; it also had been grueling and painful, as well as mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. The only good thing to come of it had been finally coming to an understanding with Susan. After the destruction of their White Star and the emergency landing of their damaged life pod on that hell's excuse for a planet, the Commander and her XO had come to truly understand each other as they fought to survive until a rescue team could find them. They had pulled each other through deadly situations and tended each other's wounds on that hellish world. They had forced each other to hold on, to fight to stay alive. When one wanted to give up, or to sacrifice themselves so that the other had a better chance of survival, the other would do everything, including the use of physical violence, to get their crewmate to go on. They had been forced to stay inside a space the size of a regulation brig cell with each other for days at a time and learned how not to drive each other insane. They had also lost any and all personal modesty towards each other. They had alternatively been frozen and burned by the unforgiving environments that the life pod had been in. They had also slowly bled, starved, suffocated, and thirsted together.

In those weeks of waking nightmare upon waking nightmare, Marcus and Susan had forged a bond no one would ever be able to break. Marcus had always thought that his love for the indomitable Russian woman had been of a romantic nature. He had been so very wrong. It was a love of a familial nature, a bond of siblings of the heart. In their isolated time together, not knowing when or if they would ever be rescued, or even if they would survive, they had been both taught much about the other and also learned just as much about themselves. The Ranger and the Commander also came to understand what they truly felt for each other.

And then came one particularly horrible night. It was a night only Dante and all the demons of his Circles of Hell could ever have imagined. It was a night that the volcanoes around the valley their pod had limped to a landing in were spewing ash and poisonous gas in volumes that would classify as and E.L.E. on Earth. It was the night that Marcus and Susan's relationship had changed permanently. Knowing that the eruptions surrounding them would most likely bury them and therefore end their lives, they had set all the available power left in the pod's batteries to the shields. They sealed the pod as well as it could be, donned their survival suites, plugged into their emergency O2 tanks and prayed. Then, when the night was at it's worst, when they silence inside the sealed and shielded pod had almost driven him to the point of insanity, Marcus began to talk. The Ranger talked until he was hoarse. He talked of everything in his life. He talked of his faith and of losing it. He talked of his anger towards whatever Creator was out there. He talked of his childhood and his family. He talked of Hasina, the War, EFI and Arisia. He talked of losing Arisia, losing his family, losing William and losing Hasina. He talked of the Rangers, of Jeff and of losing him. And finally, he talked of how he felt about Susan.

When Marcus was done; well, when he was too hoarse to talk anymore, Susan took over. The Commander spoke of Russia, of Judaism, of EarthForce and of Babylon 5. She spoke of her life. She spoke of the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. She spoke of the well publicized and the deepest held secrets. She too spoke of Jeff and of losing him. She spoke of her older brother and of losing him in the Earth-Minbari War. She spoke of past lovers, and of past betrayal. She spoke of the worst betrayal a man can commit against a woman. And, if that revelation of hell wasn't enough, she spoke of PsiCorps, her mother and Talia. She spoke of the relationship with Talia that almost was and how the loss of that promise had hurt more than all the injuries that had come before. Then she did something she almost never did, the Iron Maiden of Babylon 5 cried. She cried for her loses and for all the loses Marcus had faced. And Marcus finally cried with her. He cried for his dead and for hers. He cried for her pain and for his.

After the emotional let out, and trying to get cleaned up without suffocating since they had to take their helmets off to do so, the two Warriors of the Light spoke of the love Marcus held for Susan. They spoke of his wariness of relationships, and his fear of loss, of being hurt again. They spoke of her fear of love, of being hurt again, of her fear of loss. They spoke of his chastity and of her prolonged celibacy. They joked about how to end their respective dry spells and of "going out with a bang" and then simply held each other in a comforting embrace through that Dante's night. And in the morning's murky light, in that ash filled dawn, they each knew the other better than they did themselves. They also knew that their connection was one of siblings, not that of potential lovers. As they both had no family left, they decided that actually having an "adopted" sibling was better than a love affair that may very well end badly.

That had been when a static filled and broken message answered their distress call. A Minbari _Sharlin_ (War Cruiser) by the name of "_Ingata_" had picked up the distress call and had come to investigate. Susan had groaned aloud and muttered about now being beholden to "that self righteous bastard Neroon" when she'd heard the name of the Sharlin. Because of this, Marcus had handled the communications as a shuttle was sent down to pick them up. In between the communications from the Minbari shuttle's crew, Susan had filled Marcus in on why she didn't get along with the_ Ingata's Alyt_ (Captain). Marcus reciprocated the information by telling her all the problems that Jeff and the Rangers had had with the Star Rider.

They stopped gossiping as soon as the shuttle was in place. The Minbari crew had blasted a path from the damaged pod to the shuttle clean. Then the time for the dangerous trek to the shuttle had come. The two Humans had simply looked at each other and known that their respective numbers weren't up yet. With a final embrace, they opened the hatch and then scrambled, crawled, limped, and carried each other to the shuttle through the poison that passed for atmosphere and the still burning ash. After the hair-raising transfer from the practically buried life pod to the shuttle, the two injured, exhausted, malnourished, dehydrated, and slightly poisoned Humans were flown to the_ Ingata_ where they were met by a team of Minbari Healers. The two Humans had both then promptly passed out. That was how Marcus found himself waking to an evil, incessant beeping in the Medlab of the _Ingata._


	2. Chapter 1

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc., and Warner Bros. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income had been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary. Though, not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter One

A low moaning to his right brought the Ranger out of his thoughts. The moaning was followed by a growled out; "_Yebet' ti tvoyu matb_!" (This had been rather loosely translated to Marcus as, "Go fuck your mother!" by Susan during their oh so lovely stay on Planet Hell.) Then a head support was flung in the direction of the beeping sound. A pain filled moan and another burst of Russian profanity then followed this action. Marcus chuckled to himself. Ah, his new "_sestrica_" (an old Russian endearment for older sister, or so he had been told) must be awake. And she didn't seem to be a morning person either!

A Minbari Warrior Caste Healer ran in while Susan gave Marcus yet another lesson in colloquial Russian profanity, and immediately went to the beeping sensor. The Healer fought with the sensor for a bit. When it refused to cooperate, the Healer proceeded to pull the power coupling while biting out something in _Lenn'ah _(the Warrior Caste language) that was very similar in meaning to Susan's waking statement, to which Marcus and Susan both snorted. The Healer turned to his now awake patients, surprised that they both understood him. The two Humans turned to each other and smiled. Susan then answered the Healer's incredulous look as best as she could with her "morning disposition" and very dry, very sore throat.

"Don't look so surprised, Healer. We Human Warriors are required to be fluent _Lenn'ah_ upon our graduation from EarthForce Academy. It's the _Adronato_ (the Religious Caste language) that tends to confuse us," the Commander said.

The somewhat still dumbfounded Healer answered, "Us too, Commander," before he could stop himself. The Healer then promptly gasped and flushed in horror at what he had let slip. The Humans and staff all chuckled at the statement though, and an aura of camaraderie had been born.

Susan smiled and did her best NOT to be the proverbial grouchy Russian bear that had just woken up after a long Siberian winter and found out that she had a hangover. "Oh, don't worry, we won't tell if you won't. Now, would you be so good as to get us both a cup of what ever passes for a morning stimulant drink around here?"

The Healer, now recovered from his shock as well as chagrin, answered her question, "I will of course have some fluids brought for your consumption. But I am sorry to say that any stimulant teas will have to wait until your are in better condition."

Susan looked ready to get off the rigged medical platform and attack the poor Healer for bringing such bad news. Not only would there be no coffee - as expected - but no pathetic excuse for coffee either?! Marcus broke in before Susan restarted the Earth-Minbari War over this oh so horrible lack of caffeine. "Thank you Healer…?"

"Healer Rama'Fi (Dawn Star), _Anla'Shok_ (Ranger) Cole," the Healer answered with a bow.

Susan choked at the Healer's name. She may have been Jewish, but hell, even the Hebrews had their own scripture concerning the Devil. "_Boze moi_ (My God)! Finally! A military sawbones with an appropriate name!" At Marcus's rather murderous look, she went on, "Well, it's not exactly "The Deceiver" or "Lucifer", but it sure comes close!" the Commander said between raspy snorts and chuckles.

Marcus gave Susan a look that she'd learned to dread on Planet Hell. It was the, "You are in it deep, and I WILL deal with you later!" look. Susan promptly shut up. He then turned back to the now very confused Healer.

"Thank you Healer Rama'Fi. As you can understand by our impersonations of some rather throaty Earth amphibians, we will of course be thankful for any soothing tea. And perhaps something to break our fasts as well – but no _flarn_ (Minbari "cassava"), please!" Marcus continued as Susan stared daggers at the poor Healer.

"Of course, _Anla'Shok_," Rama'Fi said. the Healer bowed and called over one of the other Healers and gave some orders. The younger Healer then affirmed his orders, bowed and left to get something for the Humans' breakfast.

The Healer then returned to his conversation with his patients. "Both of you are still dehydrated and undernourished, even with the IV lines running during your sleep period. We have been able to repair some of the damage done to your lungs by the volcanic ash and gases as well as having flushed most of the toxins from your systems. Also, we have set re-knitting casts on the fractures in your left ankle and clavicle, Commander. We have also done the same for your right wrist, left tibia, and two of your ribs, _Anla'Shok_. We have not been…"

The Healer was cut off from his speech by a large commotion coming from the entryway to the medlab. "Healer! We need a Healer right now!" came a frantic, booming command.

"For Valen's sake, Neroon! Would you STOP! The poor Healers will think I'm at the threshold of death with the way you are carrying on! Would you stop being so overly worried about me; it's not as if I haven't ever been injured in a spar before!" came an exasperated reply.

There was a snort and chuckle followed by, "Who says I'm worried about you? Mother, our Sechenal, your old nurse, both our Aunts, and Grandmother all threatened me to within an inch of my life in regards to your safety before we left the Stronghold. Mother said, and I quote, "If Sarhat comes back with even one more scar that that with which he left, _Satai_ (Ruler) or not, you will be the one to regret it!" This is not being overly worried about your pathetic hide, little brother, this is an exercise in self-preservation!"

The younger one groaned at that speech as the two bickering brothers finally came into the Humans' view. Susan easily recognized Neroon's imposing presence, and she unobtrusively confirmed his identity for Marcus. Marcus then just as unobtrusively nodded his thanks. They then settled in to wait for their breakfasts and watched the unintentional comedy road show in front of them.

Neroon was supporting – well, more like carrying – a young and limping Warrior who bore a striking resemblance to him. Their looks were so closely matched that if the age difference hadn't been prevalent, they could have been mistaken for twins. The younger Warrior could only be the aforementioned Sarhat; and he was cursing up a storm in _Lenn'ah_ every time his left foot met the deck.

Both Susan and Marcus were now receiving a lesson in Warrior Caste gutter-speak that they never would have been privileged to otherwise, and it had them both blushing. Marcus was speechless at the virulence of the profanity and was choking and blushing to the roots of his hair. Even Susan, who had the mouth of an old salt when angered, was blushing at the more "colorful" phrases coming out of the young Warrior's mouth!

_"Whoa, that's GOT to be an ugly one. Good God, but can the Warrior Caste swear! I just hope this guy never runs into Delenn or she'll wash his mouth out with soap after just looking at him!"_ she thought to herself after a particularly intricate and vicious curse.

Neroon on the other hand, seemed nonplussed by his brother's choice of language, and was shaking his head while interjecting, "Well, what did you expect would happen if you pulled that move?", I told you so!", "You know you did this to yourself.", and "Oh, stop acting like such a spoiled child!" in between each new barrage of profanity. Rama'Fi was adding to this little tableau by nervously fluttering around the two figures and desperately trying to butt into the ongoing rant come lecture.

Finally, after they had reached the nearest examination platform, the poor Healer reached the end of his rope and threw both Minbari etiquette and caution to the wind, and screamed out at the top of his lungs, "Our Human patients are a wake, understand _Lenn'ah_ and one of them is a Human Officer and LADY, you idiots!"

That brought the ranting to an immediate halt. Both Warriors then turned to the corner of the medlab that the Healer was frantically gesticulating towards and stared while their jaws dropped in surprise. Marcus immediately dropped his eyes as he had heard was proper when in the presence of a Satai.Susan, on the other hand, snorted and met Neroon's stare full square.

"Hello, Neroon. Long time no see," she said.

Neroon just glared at her while his brother started flushing at the realization that he'd had an alien audience of the opposite sex for his little rant. An uncomfortable silence fell as the two mortified Minbari processed the sight before them. Finally, Neroon let loose a curse of his own.

"_Ra'sh ta'al Quith_ (God damn it)! It just had to be one of you!" he muttered almost under his breath.

Susan couldn't resist heckling the Warrior that had caused the entire Station such misery during his one visit. "Now, now, is that the kind of language a… Now what was it you said? Oh, Yes! – A _Satai_ should be using?" she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. When she got no answer from the two now mortified Warriors, she went on, "_Satai_, huh? Well, well, well, haven't we come up in the world?" she said as sarcastically as possible with the state her throat was in.

Marcus finally got the courage to take a peek at the Warriors through his lowered lashes. He then inwardly cringed at the sight of the glowers. When he heard the younger one growl Marcus visibly flinched. At that point, Marcus was sure that the War was about to restart!


	3. Chapter 2

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Two

Marcus braced himself for an all-out enraged Minbari Warrior attack as the growling gained in volume. Then, to his utter surprise, the growling changed pitch and became a thunder-like rumbling. Soon the rumbling became a rich, full and deep-throated laugh. The laughter went on for some time and Marcus finally gained the courage to lift his eyes to take a look at the Warriors. What he saw made his jaw drop. He saw that the younger one was practically doubled over in his mirth, his injured foot completely forgotten. The Warrior was laughing uproariously while pointing at his elder brother. At that rather rude gesture by Minbari standards, the _Satai_ had turned that forbidding scowl of his onto his younger brother.

Finally done with laughing, Sarhat clutched at his side and gasped out, "Oh Valen! Now I know that_ Id'Minbari _(Minbari souled Humans) are real! Our family Matriarch is back, Neroon – and is sitting right before us! That Human Lady Warrior is great-grandmother reborn, brother! May the Shadows take my soul if she is not! She still has the same voice, the same spirit, the same Warrior's fire in her eyes and the same ability to dominate any male in her presence. And in a Human body or not, relative stranger or not, she STILL likes you just about as much as she always has!"

Susan snorted at that statement while Marcus choked on his shock. Both Humans then tried to break into the conversation, only to be completely stymied. The Minbari Warriors ignored the Humans as their bickering started anew. Only this time there was a bit of physicality added to the comedic repertoire of the brothers.

Neroon literally cuffed his brother on the back of the head; or rather armor covered neck, as he would never stoop so low as to deliver the Minbari version of a "blow below the belt". "You, little brother, are as impertinent as ever! Great-grandmother indeed! I cannot believe that even Master Durhann has not been able to beat that impermanence out of your tongue!" Neroon growled out as his brother yelped at the blow and turned wounded eyes onto his familial assailant. Neroon, having had a half of a lifetime's experience with the "wounded and orphaned _gokling _(Minbari feline)" look, completely ignored Sarhat's silent plea for mercy and continued to berate him.

At that sight both Marcus and Susan almost choked on their suppressed laughter and Susan found that she couldn't help herself. She had to heckle Neroon at least one more time. Somehow, she'd contracted Marcus's pixie infestation on Planet Hell, and now they were all screaming to come out and play! Oh, but she just HAD to heckle Neroon again!

Well, heckle Neroon and get even for that "grandmother" comment by Neroon Jr. as began thinking of the younger Warrior. _Boze moi_, didn't the kid know even the first thing about what an insult that was to a woman? Well, if these pointy-headed twits were going to call her "_babushka_" (grandmother) she'd damn well give them best impersonation of one they'd ever seen! And she'd really give them something to fear, for there was nothing as frightening as a ticked off Russian grandmother who also happened to be a traditional Jewish one – not even a PsiCorps bloodhound unit!

"Neroon!" the Commander snapped out in her best Iron Maiden voice. It was that voice that made new recruits wet themselves, veterans cry, all of C&C cower, Sheridan and Garibaldi back off, the Centauri fleet go into full retreat after challenging Babylon 5's defenses and the Drazi worship her as a goddess. "I cannot believe you, acting like such a untrained and uncontrolled _dra Zha'den_ (young Warrior)! Just when has it become acceptable for an honorable Warrior strike a wounded comrade?"

At that coldly and viscously snapped out rebuke, delivered in fluent _Lenn'ah_ mind you, Neroon seemed to go on autopilot and immediately executed a flawless about face and bowed in Susan's direction. "Forgive me, _Av' Minsa'sher_ (my most honored Clan Elder). I have no excuse for my actions. I sub…"

Neroon was cut off by his brother's renewed laughter. "By the grace of both Valen and the Universe, brother! Those eyes! That voice! That voice and how you reacted to it! Do you not believe me now?"

At Sarhat's comment, the Healer saw that that the embarrassing and/or confrontational situations he had been so desperately trying to avoid were here, knew that his cause was lost and performed a "strategic tactical withdrawal" in order to get reinforcements. Neroon too reacted to his brother's words. He seemed to wake up from his trance, or more correctly, relived memory and straightened to look into the now severely disturbingly and terrifyingly familiar eyes of a gloating Commander Ivanova. The Warrior _Satai_ flushed in humiliation as he realized that if his brother hadn't interrupted him, he would have literally submitted his himself AND his Station to this Human! He glared in anger at the Human woman Warrior only to have her meet his glare in such a direct manor.

Why, her own glare was no less than a Warrior's Challenge! Just who did this Human Commander this she was? And just where had she developed this hostile attitude? Neroon did not remember her being so belligerent during his ill-fated mission to Babylon 5. Well, he did not remember very much of her at all considering he avoided all the Humans as much as it was possible under the circumstances. How dare this insignificant Human insult him in such a manor! How dare she!

After having no success in forcing the Commander to back down, or at least into showing him the proper respect due his Station, he turned that blistering gaze onto the male who dared wear the uniform of an _Anla'Shok_. Neroon almost nodded but was able to control himself as the Human male immediately dropped his eyes in respect. This Human also seemed to flush at having the interest of a _Satai_ fall onto him. Hmm, perhaps he understood his true place in the order of things? And if not, which was more likely the case considering the remedial intelligence of Humans, the _Anla'Shok_ at least knew how to bite his tongue and comport himself properly!

"_Anla'Shok_," Neroon magnanimously acknowledged the Human Ranger in an effort to humiliate the Commander into proper behavior.

"_Satai_ Neroon," Marcus softly greeted the Warrior as he dipped his head in a slight bow, the best he could do in his condition.

Susan hackles went up as she snorted at this obvious putdown. By God, if the bone-headed bastard wanted a fight, he just got one! "Stop showing the jackass so much deference, _dushanko moi_ ("my soul"; among Slavs, a loving endearment for both close family and sometimes, but not necessarily always, for lovers) He may have been promoted and the Minbari may believe in not meeting the eyes of a superior but you are HUMAN! Never, Marcus, and I mean NEVER surrender that. Never back down. We fought too long and too hard and too many of our brothers and sisters bled and died for us to just roll over and act as if we're Minbari now. If the bastard wants to prove he's the fucking alpha male in the room then he'd better do it the old fashioned way!"

"You were Jeff's personal protégé, Marcus, so do what he always did! Meet this arrogant idiot head on! This _svinja_ (pig) was in all probability Jeff's superior while you were training with him and I'm damned sure he never backed down from him, or for that matter, any of the Warrior Caste leaders! Oh, and _bratko_, just remember that the bastard has one hell of a glass jaw," Susan growled out angrily while staring daggers at Neroon.

Marcus paled and gasped at Susan's belligerence and then tried to answer her in order to point out the stupidity of angering the Warrior while they were in his care. "Commander…"

He was cut off by a truly angry growl from Neroon that was followed by the viciously spit out epitaph of, _"Ver'min Shok shan'shai!"_ ("Outer Enemy whore!")

Immediate stunned silence descended on the medlab. The medlab staff were all beyond scandalized by what their _Satai_ had said, yet did not know how to escape being witnesses to what they thought would immediately become a _Den'shah_ (fight to the death) Challenge. Susan and Marcus both paled at what they knew was the worst insult a Warrior could throw at a female of any race. There really was no worse insult that the Warrior Caste could sling out at a woman. Sarhat gasped and flushed at his brother's severe insult of a visiting Officer and Lady, not to mention Officer of an allied military. Even Neroon flushed as he realized that he'd let his anger get out of control; that he'd gone too far.

Susan and her Russian temper were the first to recover. Rage suffused her entire being as she very coldly, calmly and precisely rebutted the insult and accusation. "Whore you call me. Enemy you call me. I will not deny it. I AM your personal enemy. You have made me an enemy by your past actions on Babylon 5 and both your greeting here and words now. Yet I am NOT the enemy of the Minbari people. Whore I may be in your eyes. But I can say that others made me so. Yes they have made me one, if not completely a whore of my body than a whore of my principals."

Marcus choked on his tears as he heard Susan say this, knowing exactly to what past situations the Commander was referring to. It broke his heart to hear the sister of his soul refer to herself in such a way. It also angered him beyond belief that Neroon could say such a thing to a guest onboard his ship, and an injured female one at that! There was absolutely no provocation great enough for Neroon to sink that low!

The Ranger decided that if this animal that dared call himself a _Satai_ could throw common Minbari courtesy out the window, then so could he! Marcus lifted his eyes to the Warrior and leveled his coldest assassin's stare on him. Neroon was no longer a living being to Marcus. He was nothing more that a target to be eliminated now, a piece of trash that needed to be removed from the area to ensure the public health.

Susan went on as Marcus mentally calculated the best possible way to terminate his latest target, Neroon. "Enemy and whore I may be, but at least I can honestly say that I am not a heretical to my religion, lying, back-stabbing, oath-breaking body thief! And you dammed well know that there is not one of those appellations that you can deny you bone-headed pig! Go on! Try and deny even one of my accusations you animal! Just try it! DO it Neroon! DO IT! I so WANT to share with everyone exactly all that I know!"

Sarhat gasped and paled at what the Commander was saying. The combination of shear viciousness and righteousness in her voice convinced him that she was telling the truth. His elder brother had indeed broken faith with someone! A lead weight settled in the pit of his stomach. Oh Valen help them all if all of her accusations were true! Oh Valen, body theft! Then he took a look at the Ranger and the blood froze in his veins. He had seen that look on _Anla'Shok _and Warrior alike, and it screamed that his brother was a dead man!

Sarhat tried to break in at that point in order to diffuse the situation only to be drowned out by his brother's Challenging growl, which was met the Human Ranger's scream of, "Don't you even dare, _shag'ah _(cursed one)! If you dare issue a Challenge, you Challenge me! Touch one hair on my Commander's head you bone-headed bastard and you die!"

The formidable combined bellows of, "Enough!" of two rather famous voices from the medlab entrance followed this.


	4. Chapter 3

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Three

At the combined roar coming from the entryway, the entirety of the medlab turned their attention to that direction. The sight that greeted them all induced an immediate silence, made the Minbari drop their eyes and the Humans flush, for there in the doorway stood two legends and one very irate Healer. Healer Rama'Fi had indeed been able to get reinforcements. Those reinforcements, though, consisted of _Denn'bok_ (Minbari pike) Masters Turval and Durhann! These two Minbari Elders were not only the most knowledgeable _denn'bok_ instructors in the history of the Minbari race, but were also members of the Warrior's Council AND held two of the three current governing seats of the _Anla'Shok_ – a duality of service that had never before been allowed by Minbari Law.

Marcus was the first to recover from his embarrassment. He dropped his eyes in respect to his superior officers before greeting them. "Master Turval, Master Durhann. Please forgive the, ah, exuberance of our previous… discussion. I though have to admit to some surprise at seeing you here," Marcus said quietly and with as much a bow as his medical state and position on the rigged medical platform would allow.

The two Elders looked at each other smiled slightly at their youngest protégé's attempt to pour oil over troubled waters. "Exuberant discussion" indeed! Now there was an understatement if they had ever heard one! The so-called "discussion" had been so heated that no one had noticed that they'd been at the door since Neroon had opened his mouth only to insert his _Satai_-sized boot into it! By Valen, had no one ever taught that hulking brute any manners? Oh yes! And how could either Elder forget about the language that Rama'Fi had said Sarhat had flung about before that?

Was it any wonder that the Human Commander was so highly insulted? Was it any wonder that she was ready to destroy the very fabric of the Minbari government? Well, insulted or not, the Commander had to be brought to heel. They did not dare have any instability within the Minbari Warrior Caste with the war against the _Sher'shok Dum_ (Shadows) looming. Not that Neroon or his brother would be let off the hook. Their behavior had been simply atrocious! They would also be taken to task - and severely - though in private. It would not do to have an _Alyt_ and a _Satai_ be reprimanded in public.

Master Turval nodded slightly to his esteemed colleague as if to say that he had the lead in what was coming and then stepped back to watch the "patented Durhann ass kicking" as Jeffery had so eloquently put it such a short time ago. The old Warrior sighed. Ah, but Turval missed Valen's Human incarnation. That dry, acerbaric wit and that keen mind that had used Shakiri, the _Marka'ri Minsa_ (Council of Clans) and half of the Warrior's Council - including Neroon - as a whet stone had kept him and Durhann very well entertained indeed. Now that he had gone to meet his destiny, well now they had to settle for playing with these foolish little _goklings_ instead! After all that came before, it was such a let down.

As Turval mourned the loss of Jeffery Sinclair's entertainment value, Durhann smiled very kindly toward the Humans. It was that smile that had the Minbari - _Satai_ or not - all literally shivering in fear. They all knew better than to believe in its benevolence, especially those that had been under the Master's tutelage. Marcus was also very versed in it and paled while swallowing heavily. Oh, but the poor Ranger knew he was in for it now!

Susan, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes, took a steadying breadth, shored up her defenses and girded for continued battle. She may have not fought in the War, but when it came to the Minbari, she took Jeff and Michael's lessons on "never letting them see weakness" and "never trusting a smiling bone-head" (Delenn not withstanding; even as manipulative as the priestess was, she truly meant well and besides, even after all these years, Delenn STILL couldn't block her mind worth anything) straight to heart. Well, that and the fact that the mental waves coming off the old Minbari screamed trouble with a capital "T". In fact, all the mental waves coming off the Minbari screamed either abject fear and/or trouble. And that meant that Susan was going to pull out the heavy artillery. If she had known Jeff at all, then it meant that he couldn't resist pulling one last one over these two. Oh, but she couldn't wait to be the one to drop the bomb on them – and Neroon!

Neither of the Elders took Susan's closed expression into account as Durhann zeroed in on person he considered the weakest link in the room. The old Master thought that he could use Marcus's sense of honesty and fair play against him. He did not take into account just how angry both of the Humans were, just how upset Marcus was, nor how protective Susan had become of her "little brother". That mistake was going to cost him. It was going to cost him and cost him dearly. It was also going to cost Neroon his weight in dignity. While Durhann stalked his prey and blithely ignored the "insulted Human Lady", the prey took control of his fear and sharpened his proverbial claws while the "Lady" planned her own hunt.

"Marcus, it is good to see you recovering form your ordeal. Though I could have used less of an example of how well your lungs are healing," Durhann said with a slight chuckle. "Perhaps, as the, ah, calmest of those assembled here, you could explain to me what had happened?" he asked quietly.

Marcus's mind whirled at the gently laid trap. Oh, yes. It was indeed a trap. The Ranger knew the Minbari culture well and knew that any explanation he gave would be double edged. Not only would the two brothers be cut, but so would he and Susan - and the Ranger would never allow his "sister" to be hurt again.

Yes, Neroon had started the mess, but Susan had baited him. Yes, Neroon's actions and reactions were both inexcusable, but Susan had threatened what was tantamount by Minbari standards to the blackmail of a _Satai_. Yes, Neroon had been about to issue a Challenge to a wounded guest and a female one at that, but Marcus was the one to formally issue the Challenge instead.

There was no way for him to gloss over any of this without letting that bloody bastard and his idiot brother off the hook. And if he truly explained what happened, there would be no way they could escape the situation without both him and Susan catching any flack and after everything they had been through, that just wasn't acceptable! As much as Marcus respected the two Elders, there was no way in bloody hell he would allow them to paint him and Susan into a corner where they would be forced to apologize to those two brainless, foul-mouthed, black suited gorillas!

As Marcus mind worked at lightning speed to find a solution, Susan jumped into the fray with both feet. "It would behoove you, honored Elder, to question me not my executive officer if you wish to be answered," Susan practically growled out.

Durhann was taken aback by Susan's statement. What did the Human Warrior mean by saying her "executive officer"? The White Star fleet was a fleet of _Anla'Shok_ ships. Marcus was _Anla'Shok_. Had he not been the _Shok'Na_ (Ranger Captain) of the destroyed White Star?

"Your executive officer?" he asked the Commander.

Susan smiled a vicious little smile. "Yes, Master Durhann, is it?" When the old teacher nodded, she went on, "I commanded the White Star and Marcus was my XO. Therefore, as the ranking officer of the Army of Light here, you will direct your questions to me."

Durhann smiled as he thought he understood the situation. Obviously Delenn had asked this Human to work for her. "You misunderstand, Commander -"

Susan cut him off. "No, Elder, you misunderstand. Whatever you believe is the current ranking of the Army of Light, whatever you seem to think your rank is, or whatever command you have of Marcus, you are wrong. I don't think you have read the fine print in all those letters Jeffery left behind before taking his little trip to save you collective behinds."

"Read them again, and you will find that all though Delenn will be named _Entil'Zha_ (Ranger Commander), -"

Susan was cut off by a screamed out, "WHAT?" from Neroon. He was immediately silenced by a look from Durhann.

"As I was saying, even though Delenn will be named _Entil'Zha_, the Captain will hold the titles of _Anla'Shok Na_ (Ranger One) and _Shok'Shah Na_ (Ranger War Leader). These were Jeff's express orders. And if you all really want to beat the Shadows, you won't try to screw with them. And if you know what's good for you, you really won't push the issue with John either. We all know he's NOT as forgiving as Jeff was," Susan said and gave that little crocodile smile again.

"And, I'm John's XO. Hence, I now outrank you, both you AND the glowering Master Turval over there. At least I think that's Master Turval. The Intel stills from the War were rather grainy and the last time I saw them I was still at the Academy," she said as she twisted the knife just a little deeper. "Now, if you want to know what happened, you will question me, not MY XO, got it? Oh, by he way, you may question, but that doesn't mean I will answer. Or answer completely. After all, what good for the goose is good for the gander too."

There was a stunned silence as the Minbari in the room processed what the Commander had said. Both of the Masters felt a wave of nausea hit them as they realized that neither had had the time available to actually go through the last of Sinclair's orders as closely as they had wanted to. They had both known that he had probably hidden a few strings in those orders. Valen was absolutely notorious for such things when it came to his sealed letters. Why would Sinclair not be as well? But this; even Valen had never been so vicious!

_Entil'Zha_ Sinclair had handed over the command of the Army of Light to the Humans of Babylon 5? He had reinstated the rank of _Shok'Shah Na_? AND he'd given that rank to Sheridan StarKiller? And they now all reported to HIM? And this Human Lady Warrior was StarKiller's War Second? Neroon had been stupid enough to lay an insult foul enough to restart the old blood feuds had it been laid at a Minbari woman's feet at the feet of StarKiller's War Second? By Valen, how in the Vale of the Shadows were they going to pull the idiot's fat of this fire?

Sech Turval finally broke the silence by quietly asking a question he REALLY didn't want to ask, for he knew in his heart of hearts that he really DIDN'T want to know the answer. "And did _Entil'Zha_ Sinclair leave any specific orders for Ranger Cole?"

Susan and Marcus looked at each other. Marcus had known that there were specific orders for him, but did not know what they were yet. Susan and the Captain did though, and had told him that they would be given to him at Delenn's elevation ceremony. Marcus simply raised an eyebrow at his "sister" who rolled her eyes sighed in resignation at Marcus's curiosity.

"Yes. He is to be _Entil'Zha_ Delenn's _Shai Be'Tri_ (personal bodyguard or "Champion") when the time comes." Susan answered. If it had been silent before, you could hear a pin drop on Minbar after Susan was finished speaking.


	5. Chapter 4

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Four

Marcus was momentarily stunned at the news that he would be promoted to a position within the highest echelons of the _Anla'Shok_, and by default, of the Minbari government as well. As Delenn's personal bodyguard or Battle Champion, he would have to escort the priestess practically everywhere, be it a classified meeting of the Rangers, an assemblage of the Council of Clans or even a simple dinner date with the Captain. About the only place he could think that he could get away with NOT going with his charge would be the ladies' room! Therefore, he would be privileged to even the most sensitive information of the Rangers. There was also the fact that Delenn was a former _Satai_ and the current First Lady of her House. The shear amounts of political, not to mention military power he would be exposed - and would also wield as her Champion - made his head spin. If he remembered his Ranger history well, being Delenn's Battle Champion meant that he would act as her Voice on the battlefield. This would effectively put him in the position of the number three man of the Army of Light when it came to combat. Marcus had never in his life thought to rise that high. All he had wanted to do was avenge his dead world and to fulfill his promise to his dying brother!

Marcus recovered extremely quickly from his shock at the quirks of fate though and began to plan as to how to use his new position to exact a fitting revenge for Neroon's vile slander and treatment of the Commander, not to mention Sarhat's mouth! Oh, but there would be some squirming, humiliation and cow-towing extracted from a certain Warrior House that day! If Susan had the best crocodile smile seen out side the Sol system, then Marcus had the best facsimile of confused and injured innocence pasted on his face as he broke the shocked silence.

"Master Durhann, please don't take any offense at the Commander's, ah, sudden sharing of this very sensitive and confidential information. I am sure that you did not wish to discuss such a sensitive topic outside…" Marcus let his comment die off while he looked around with big, wounded eyes and bit his lip, as if he just realized that he was about to suggest something so utterly foolish as a Member of the Warrior's Council and the Inner Circle of the _Anla'Shok_ purposely keeping vital information from a _Satai_. "Um, outside a more secure area," he finally finished with a flustered look.

Susan had to hide her face with her hands in order to hide the smirk as she watched Marcus work. Oh, but her littler brother was good, Susan thought to herself. He recovered from his own surprise so fast while never even showing it in the first place. And the speed at which he went on the attack was amazing. Yes, Susan was definitely impressed with her new brother. Why, the dumb-founded fools didn't even know they were being set up! Susan had begun to quietly chuckle at the astounded looks on Durhann's and Turval's faces when she felt a sudden, stabbing pain in her chest.

Unaware of the Commander's silent distress, Marcus went on in setting up his marks, "With the Commander's permission, I think I can answer your questions in regards to the, ah, conversation that preceded your arrival, but after Sus - ah, the Commander and I have spoken to the Healer and have broken our fasts. I -" Marcus was cut off by a pained moan that came from Susan.

The Ranger immediately turned to see Susan begin to clutch at her throat and chest while starting to cough violently. The Commander was quickly turning a very alarming shade gray as pink-tinged foam began to collect on her now blue lips. A spike of terror immediately shot through the Ranger at the sight.

"Susan!" Marcus yelled in alarm and tried to get off his platform in order to go to his stricken friend.

Healer Rama'Fi and his staff immediately sprang into action. Rama'Fi ran to his Human charge while bellowing orders at both a speed and volume that would have impressed even Steven Franklin while his team came in from all sides with trays of medical equipment thereby blocking Marcus's view of Susan. The loss of his line of sight of his now closest friend and "adopted sister" panicked the poor, emotionally and psychologically exhausted man even more and he redoubled his efforts to free himself from all the medical tubing and sensors attached to him, get off the platform and get to Susan's side. At that point, the assistant Healer closest to Marcus's platform jumped in to restrain the panicked Ranger.

"Cease this, _Anla'Shok_! Cease! You will do your Commander no good re-injuring yourself! Nor do you have the training to help her now! Cease this! Let the Healers do their work!" the young assistant Healer yelled out as he wrestled the panicked Ranger back down onto the medical platform, restrained him and then reattached and/or reinserted everything the desperate and now completely physically exhausted, Ranger had either ripped out or torn off.

Marcus raised panicked and pleading eyes to the Healer. "Please, let me go to her! Please! You don't understand! I'm all she has left! Please! She's all I have left! Don't you understand me? Please, I promised I'd never leave her alone! I promised!" Marcus rasped out desperately as his own throat and lungs began to fail him. It was only a matter of seconds after he finished his impassioned plea that he too clutched his chest in pain and began to choke and cough.

Now that both of the Humans were in severe respiratory distress the activity in the medlab reached a manic level. The Healers and assistant Healers quickly divided themselves into two teams and frantically worked to stabilize the Humans while the Warriors and Elders were ordered to leave the area by an extremely irate Rama'Fi. No one even remembered that Sarhat was still injured in the commotion and confusion, not even the Warrior himself. He didn't remember his broken foot until he put his weight on it in an effort to get out of the frantic medlab staff's way.

At the Warrior's pained howl, a set of osteopathic regenerators and a re-knitting cast were thrown at the Warrior, which a fast-acting Neroon caught before they could do damage to his stunned younger brother's face. One of the panicked Healers shouted out, "Your were all taught emergency triage! You all know how to use those!"

Rama'Fi followed that shout with, "Yes, and since you caused that injury to yourself AND caused the situation my patients are now in, you can very well heal yourself! Now you and that idiot of a brother of yours can get your disgusting, foul-mouthed and dishonorable carcasses out of out of my medlab!"

When none of the Warriors, young or old, moved due to their shock at having such an august group spoken to in such a manner, the Healer raised his head while he continued to work, looked Neroon straight in the eyes and menacingly growled out, "If either and/or both of these Humans die, their death and/or deaths will be on your heads, and I WILL make sure that _Satai_ Delenn and Sheridan StarKiller know who to blame when they come hunting vengeance! And I'm positive that the Lady of the House of Mir will be forgiving of the death of her new lover's Second and her own Champion. After all, she oh so kindly forgave the Humans for her first lover's death immediately, didn't she?"

Sarhat choked in shock. "_Satai_ Delenn's what?" he managed to rasp out.

Rama'Fi chuckled coldly while bringing his eyes back to his flying hands, making sure that he was following all proper medical procedures for Humans as he worked on the now seizing Susan. He shook his head at the shear idiocy of his Commander. What kind of Warrior did not keep up with the latest intelligence?

The fabric of Minbari cultural courtesy and protocol had been ripped away by the circus that had come before and one of the older Healers, who at that point was in the process of setting up the post operative oxygen breath-assist tanks, voiced all the Healers collective thoughts. "What rock have you been living under my young _Alyt_? It's been the hottest gossip of very barrack and training salle for this entire season. Sheridan StarKiller and the Lady Delenn of the House of Mir are lovers. She has even been seen in Human clothing while dining in public with him. It is said that an ensemble she once chose to wear was so scandalous, even by Human standards, that the Human _Alyt_ was forced to Challenge some of his own command for their inappropriate actions - right in the midst of the meal!"

His younger assistant added, "It has also been said that none of the Human Warriors Challenged survived." One of the female Healers gasped loudly at that statement while she hurriedly worked disinfect the used surgical instruments.

As the two younger Warriors began to pale at the words of the older Healer, Rama'Fi smirked and said, "So glad to see that you two understand the situation now."

Durhan snorted while Sorval nodded, then said, "If these two die we will have the only Human that has the ability to out think and is vicious enough to out fight the Warrior Caste angry with us. Let's not even mention his extremely volatile lover who has the backing of the Rangers and the Religious Caste Order of the _Tha'Domo_ (Fighting Monks), and of course, how could we EVER forget the fleet of White Stars at their collective disposal! And before either of you two dolts think that the presence of myself and Master Torval would be a mitigating factor, remember just who bore Delenn of Mir!"

Rama'Fi took the time of Durhann's speech to collect his breath and the minute the old _denn'bok_ Master finished speaking roared out, "Very well put! NOW GET YOUR SHADOW-BE-DAMNED SELVES OUT OF MY MEDLAB!"


	6. Chapter 5

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Five

After the final roar from the extremely angry and extremely busy Healer, the four Warriors had finally scrambled themselves out of the medlab. They'd then made their way toward Neroon's quarters with Sarhat again leaning on his older brother for support and Master Turval carrying the medical equipment. The four Warrior Caste leaders had quickly been met by one of the _Alyt's_ aides in the corridors and the young Warrior had taken the equipment from the Elder with a bow and offered his services in setting the cast when he was told that there was an emergency in the medlab that preempted the treatment of such a simple injury.

They were currently ensconced in the lounge of the _Satai's_ V.I.P. quarters. They were seated around the low table that centered the lounge and drinking a tea blend that Durhann insisted had a calming effect while discussing the situation as Sarhat's hopefully very discreet aide was treating his broken and propped up foot. It was that same foot which had found Sarhat limping to the _Ingata's_ medlab with his brother's help and which Neroon now blamed for his current fall from grace. It was also that foot that Neroon had insisted be completely numbed before the treatment started. The _Satai_ had not insisted on such a measure for any altruistic purposes, or from a disdainful belief that his brother could not handle the pain, but from a need to save them all from an encore performance of the little rant that precipitated, in Neroon's mind, anyway, the political mess they all currently found themselves in.

"Have we begun the tracking process for any other survivors of the destroyed White Star?" asked Sech Turval as he reclined in his chair and took a calming sip of his tea.

Sarhat gasped a bit at the strong pulling sensation caused by the osteopathic regenerator before answering the Elder, "Yes. So far, none of the other surviving life pods have been recovered, but we have been able to track their trajectories to the fourth planet of the adjoining star system. The Commander and Champion had crash-landed on the planet on which we found them because their pod had been damaged in the attack. The others, well, the ones that survived the Shadow ships, were able to land on a much more hospitable one."

Sarhat found himself first flushing in embarrassment and then grimacing in a combination of concern and consternation. "Even if I did not owe her the most profuse apologies for my inadvertent disrespect, I still would not wish to be the one to tell the Human Lady _Zha'den_ that as per current estimates only about half of her crew survived, that maybe even less than that have survived if they have suffered casualties planet-side. No Officer of any combat force would wish for that type of news, but after seeing how protective she is of the _Anla'Shok_ Champion, I do not believe she would be able to take it at all well."

Neroon growled both in embarrassment and in anger at his brother. He did not like being reminded of his own lack of control, nor his own comments to the Commander. He may have been provoked, but even as the unforgivable words had flown from his mouth, Neroon had known that he was going too far, that no matter the provocation, no Lady, and especially no other Warrior, deserved to be insulted in such a way. (Well, he had one exception to that rule; she was no Warrior by any means and he did NOT consider her a Lady.) Neroon also wanted to divert the two Elders' attention from all that happened before they had arrived. He knew that neither he nor Sarhat would come out of this meeting in one piece if that subject came up.

Therefore, Neroon silently apologized to his brother and went on the attack. "Would you please stop referring to that Human as the _Anla'Shok_ Champion! Delenn has not even been elevated nor he promoted! And if I have anything to say about it, that uncontrolled, deluded, power hungry, religiously fanatical, racial traitor of a half-breed will never be, nor will we EVER have a Human in such a position within our government!"

"Shut up you unmitigated fool!" Turval spat out in disgust at Neroon's outburst.

"Silence that disrespectful mouth you idiot! And you have the gall to call yourself _Satai_!" Bellowed out an equally disgusted and angry Durhann. "The ceremonies may have not been held, but the deed is already DONE! The orders came from Valen himself you fool! They cannot and will not be set aside!"

Neroon snorted in disdain at Durhann's speech but still quieted. _Satai_ or not, he still felt shamed by the Master's words, even if he felt that he did not deserve them, well, was not COMPLETELY deserving of them. The Warrior was still stinging from the Commander's put-downs, and the news that Delenn was to be elevated to _Entil'Zha_ was truly burning a hole in his gut. His anger on that subject was not feigned, nor was the total disgust and derision that he felt for the Priestess. And on top of that, to hear that the Human who had been responsible for so many Minbari deaths during the war with Earth was also to be elevated to an equal position to _Entil'Zha_ within the Rangers was enough to give him an aneurysm. That some anonymous Human _Anla'Shok_ was to be named Battle Champion could never compare to that insult to the Warrior dead. Nor was it as terrible a security risk to the Federation. Neroon clenched his fists and ground his teeth in order to control the rising rage. Even if it cost him his life, he COULD NOT - WOULD NOT let such things come to pass!

Neroon was pulled from his angry musing by a literal swift kick from Durhann. "I can literally hear you fuming, Neroon. And I would suggest you stop it. As I said, the orders came from Valen himself, and unless you are ready to throw away ALL of your honor and break our most sacred laws, then there is nothing that you can do about it. The Humans and Delen will be elevated and we will have to deal with them."

Neroon growled in anger as he got up and began to pace in agitation. "I can NOT just sit back and accept this – this travesty! You may all believe that Sinclair is Valen reborn, but I do not! _Id'Minbari_ are nothing more than a fabrication the Religious Caste came up with to help cover Delenn's need to "atone" for her actions."

"She was and still is responsible for this mess. Even Bramner, Duhkat's former heart-brother, had counseled against a war of eradication then, as did our _Satais_. But no, that little fool would not listen and let her newly awakened passions rule her as she went against all her Elders. That fool refused to remain silent at the Council of Clans, when all told her to remain so - AND as she should have as one Grey, and gave us such a story about the dishonor of the Humans and such a soul wrenching account of Duhkat's last moments when she spoke that it was no wonder all of the Federation was enraged! It was no wonder that those innocent fools called for something they could never understand!"

"Yet in the end, it was still HER orders that led us to war! SHE held the Staff of Office! SHE gave the orders for no mercy! SHE called for Holy War – for Holy War in Dukhat's blessed name! And she did all this in the midst of her grief and rage! Then that little fool had the stupidity to come to her senses when it was way too late! In Valen's name! It was too late the moment the hysterical order for Holy War left her lips!"

"The honor of the Caste and the Federation would have been destroyed if our Council broke its Vows of Jihad - vows SHE called for us to take! Vows she practically forced – no – did force us to take when she publicly humiliated our _Satias_ into taking them! Vows that she then had the gall to oh so sanctimoniously witness and bless! Vows that all we Warriors had no choice but to take and uphold at that point!"

Neroon spat out an ancient and truly black curse then. "Those Vows, those Shadow-be-damned Vows! It was those Vows that led some of my command to madness and suicide after they had watched helpless women and children die under their hands! It was those Vows that have led the Humans to truly hate us!"

Neroon stopped pacing and chuckled darkly as he stood by his brother's seat. "I find that I can express my feelings properly only in Standard when it comes to Delenn, for only that language has the proper name for her."

The _Satai_ ignored the dark looks the two Elders shot him and went on with his rant as he walked over to his own seat. "So instead of dealing with ordering the Humans' end after the war, as she should have, that Bitch STILL forced us to dishonor ourselves and then spat on the graves of our dead! And of course, made us look like complete fools in front of all known space to boot!"

"As if that was not enough, you all know what the story of _Id'Minbari_ did to those that already were barely stomaching what their Vows had forced them to do! You all know how many more we lost to suicide when the Bitch finally, finally threw out that piece of fiction as a sop for the Battle of the Line cycles later! And now, now she is forcing us to work with a people that hate us with every fiber of their being, that have a EXTREMELY good reasons to hate us, who are in all probability waiting for the Shadows to whittle us down before striking out in vengeance and who we had to learn to utterly despise in return or go insane!"

Neroon chuckled almost madly as he unceremoniously collapsed back into his chair. "After all, it was as Bramner once said; you cannot feel anything other than utter disgust for the vermin you are called to exterminate, for anything else will destroy you."

The older Warriors flinched at that statement, remembering their own buried emotions and at times fabricated hate during the war. Sarhat simply blanched, unable to imagine something so horrifying as being forced to kill civilians – and forcing himself to hate those innocents in order to be able to do it. He shuddered in disgust at what Delenn had forced his Caste into, had forced his brother into. Neroon did not see the other Warriors discomfort, as he was lost in his own memories and demons.

"And let's NOT forget Sheridan StarKiller, or what he is capable of! Does the Bitch really think we hate him because we are truly so stupid as to believe that he fights dishonorably? Does she really believe that there is honor in a war of eradication? Or dishonor in the desperate tactics of a dying race? Does she not understand who will lead the Humans to OUR eradication when they are strong enough? Or does the Bitch really believe that what resides between her cold thighs will keep us alive?" he asked, voice dripping with icy derision.

The _Satai_ sighed and rubbed his face with is hands, as if to dispel his mental ghosts and went on in a dead, emotionless voice. "No, in order for the Federation to survive, we must stay strong and become stronger still. We must rebuild what was lost or given away. We have no choice but to finish what the Bitch started, for once genocide is attempted; it is NEVER forgiven and ALWAYS will be avenged, even if it takes a thousand cycles."

"And what EarthForce did to the Dilgar is proof of that. The Dilgar waged a war of both genocide and desperation against the old League. But when they were foolish enough to set their sights on Earth and her colonies they finally met their fate, for EarthDome did NOT forgive. Even when it was known that the Dilgar were finished, that they could never attack another race again, even when it was known that their star was going to nova, Earth still did not relent. They kept the entire civilization bottled up in their own system until the fiery end. And now the Bitch thinks her nonexistent abilities at bed sport will save us from that same fate, even as she gives StarKiller the tools to destroy us."

The two Elders sighed and looked at each other in frustration. Both knew all of this. They also knew that overcoming this horrid history and these actually valid fears would be hard. After a short time of silent communication, Durhann nodded to his colleague, ordered the aide out of the room and took over the young Warrior's task. As he worked on properly applying the re-knitting cast on Sarhat's foot, he began to speak in a low and very deadly voice.

"What you two idiots are about to be told must never leave this room. If it does, your lives WILL be terminated. Do you understand?"

Sarhat and Neroon both blanched at the Elder's words, then became angered. "How dare you? How dare you threaten both the life of a _Satai_ AND deride Valen's Ban? Elder or not, I should have you declared Outcast!" the younger brother raged.

The young Warrior's angry outburst earned him a vicious strike across the face from an equally angry and quickly moving Turval. "Shut your mouth, you insolent cub! You do not know of what you speak! Yes, your lives would be forfeit, but on Valen's own orders and the Ban would not be broken in the process!"

Neroon growled in actual Challenge and moved to stand protectively between the Elders and his brother. "So, Shakiri was right! The Humans were allowed to join the _Anla'Shok_ as a way for our Caste's enemies to get around the Ban!" And you two have sided with them! Traitors!" he spat out.

The two exasperated and angry Elders moved as a unit and quickly took the younger Warrior down. Sarhat clumsily tried to come to his brother's aid only to suffer his fate. The older Warriors had quickly separated and each covered one of the brothers. Both Sons of the Star Rider Clan found themselves pinned to their respective seats by a combat Master and with lethal daggers held to their throats.

Turval chuckled coldly. "Insolent cubs! Durhann and I have separately forgotten more of combat tactics than you two have learned put together! Now, you two will sit there quietly and listen! You will not only listen, you will endeavor to comprehend! And you will do so because not only do your lives hang in the balance, but the lives of all of Minbar and known space!" And just to make sure his young charge understood him, Turval gave him a rather brutal slap to the back of the head, not bothering to avoid the sensitive Crest base. Sarhat's pained yelp was echoed by his older brother as Durhann applied the same "corrective measure" as well.


	7. Chapter 6

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Six

After extracting the two brothers' sworn oaths that they would not move from their respective seats, the two Elders let the two younger Warriors loose, sheathed their daggers and returned to their own seats. Both Elders then took some time to calm themselves, knowing that they could not launch into such a delicate explanation in their current states of mind. They also encouraged their younger companions to do the same.

After everyone was calmer, or at least more in control of themselves, Durhann began the tale, "There many points in our modern social philosophy that are to be admired. There are also many points that are to be derided."

Sarhat gasped at hearing such a thing from the Elder, thereby interrupting him. The young Warrior was shocked almost beyond measure. Never had the young Warrior though to hear such a thing from such a revered teacher!

Neroon simply nodded. He had also long felt the same way, but as a youth and then a very quickly promoted leader of the Caste and then Federation, he had been constrained from voicing such opinions by his Station. Neroon then smiled at Durhann and asked his old teacher to go on, the _Satai_ had a feeling he knew what the old Master would say next and that Shadow-cursed teaching and saying was his greatest point of contention with the teaching philosophy of Minbar as well.

Durhann did not disappoint him as he continued, "One of those points is this utterly, insipidly stupid teaching of our youth that "understanding is not required, only obedience is"."

Again, Sarhat's horrified gasp interrupted an Elder's speech. "How can you say such a thing? It is against all of Valen's teachings!" the young _Alyt_ practically cried out.

Neroon had gone completely still and narrowed his eyes at the Elder's words. Yes, he agreed with this statement whole-heartedly, but by the look in his old Master's eyes, he also knew it would lead to something he knew he did NOT want to hear. Well, he would deal with that later, he needed to calm his scandalized little brother first. Therefore, Neroon turned to his horrified brother.

"No, young one," he said soothingly, "it is a perversion of Valen's teachings. Had you ever been granted the privilege of actually reading some of Valen's true writings, and not those that have been "interpreted" over the cycles, you would know this. Trust me when I say this, what Valen truly wrote and what the Council of Clans and the Grey Council itself have allowed to be taught over the centuries are two vastly different things," he finished.

When his now pale brother nodded to him in acceptance of this fact, Neroon turned back to his teacher. He had a sick feeling he knew where Turval was taking the rest of this, and did not like it one bit. The Warrior nodded to his Elder, wanting, and yet not wanting, him to go on.

Durhann nodded in return and continued. The old Master started with the most obvious, and most painful, example for Sarhat's unblooded benefit. Neroon had known this truth, and felt the pain, of this example from the moment that cursed order had left Delenn's lips.

"Of course obedience is required, Sarhat, but _filisil_ (child), so is understanding; for without it, many horrendous acts will occur in the future, as they have occurred in the past. Because of this lack of understanding, as Neroon has already stated, our people asked for something truly horrible, something they had no concept of, something they did not truly have an understanding of until they witnessed it done, when they called for Holy War against the Humans. And those that understood still followed that Delenn's orders because the need for obedience was so ingrained in them." Durhann shook his head and sighed wearily before going on. "There were so few who protested, so few who questioned, so few who saw where that war would ultimately lead us, so few who even tried to understand!"

Turval saw his friend's distress and took over. "Such a teaching had the power to lead us to almost exterminating another race at the mere whim of a young, distraught and madly grieving girl, a girl that had no place holding the Staff of Office in the first place, and it had the power to stop that extermination at the word of the entire Council. It also has the power to lead us into civil war, and through that civil war, to our final and utter destruction."

Turval graced them all with a small, bitter and knowing smile. He did not like where this was going either, but it was the truth and these two truly needed to understand. "We do not have to wait for the Shadows, or any other enemy of the Federation for that matter, to bring about our end if we continue in this way. Our final end will come within a few short cycles – and it will come at our own hands," he practically spat out.

Turval lifted a hand to stop the virulent denials that both of the younger Warriors were ready to make at that point. "Today's youth and all the generations that have come since shortly after Valen's time do not know how to question their leadership. And that, young ones, is a very dangerous thing. Those within the Federation that wish to gain personal power will use that to their advantage. And those selfish actions WILL lead to internal strife," he explained.

"Young ones, those of us in the _Anla'Shok_ know of these things, we also know that we have no way to stop the civil war that is sure to come if there is no understanding, especially within our Caste; for the greatest danger comes from our Caste and our unhealed wounds from the War. It also comes from someone within the Caste despicable enough to exploit these wounds and who would eagerly take advantage of the flaw in our teachings."

Turval then looked directly at Neroon. "You know of whom I speak, Neroon. You know of what he plans. And I know that you agree with many of his principles. What you do not know is that his principles are based on lies, some of which he has concocted and some of which he has been fed by our society, as has every other Minbari. Neroon, he is NOT your friend, nor he does not truly care for our people."

When Neroon would have cut the Elder off in protest, Durhann cut him off instead. "Neroon, believe us, Shakiri only wants personal power. He does not care for the Caste or the Federation. That fool does not want to heal the Caste's wounds. And the only reason he wishes to restart the war with Earth is his wounded pride and what he sees as lost personal glory. He would stoop to almost any level to achieve his ends, including starting a civil war. You also know that Turval and I would not be saying this if we could not prove it! Neroon please," the Elder begged, "when we are done here, meditate on what we have said and what will have yet to say and you will see the truth as well."

When a visibly disturbed Neroon reluctantly nodded again, Durhann went on. "The information you will now learn has been hidden from the people of the Federation even from before the time of Valen. There are parts that you both already know, more parts that Neroon knows as one who is Grey, but neither of you know the sum of the whole. That we will tell you now."

Durhann took a steadying breath and went on, "You both know that at one time in our ancient past there were actually three different proto-Minbari species on this planet, each vying for the dominance and that through the integration of those three related species our current race was born. What you do not know is that the integration of the three species did not happen naturally, nor did it happen over the tens of thousands of cycles as our evolutionary scientists have led everyone to believe."

Sarhat sat utterly stunned at this revelation while Neroon subtly nodded to his brother, asking him silently to keep listening. Sarhat grimaced but nodded back. Apparently, this was information that was privileged only to those Grey, and to hear this was both an honor and truly dangerous.

Durhann saw the interaction and nodded to the young Warriors as well. "What even you do not know, Neroon, is that the integration between the three species was never meant to happen in our evolutionary cycle, it was not just sped up by outside forces as you have been led to believe, but forced to happen when it never should have happened in the first place. The three species were NOT truly genetically compatible and could not have naturally mated. Natural selection should have chosen what species should have survived and evolved to become the modern Minbari race. Obviously, this did not happen."

Neroon was dumbfounded by this piece of information. "How do you know of this?" he asked quietly, unable to form and vocalize any other question, though thousands were screaming in his mind.

Turval took over. "Do you know when the Order of Valeria was founded?" When Neroon shook his head no, he went on. "The Order was founded five hundred cycles before the time of Valen. Young ones, it was NOT founded as an order charged with the task of bringing peace to the Clans nor succor to those less fortunate, as we have been taught. They were founded as a medical order. Their main goal was, and still is, the continued survival of the Minbari species."

Sarhat shook his head in order to clear it. This was now becoming beyond confusing. Well, if understanding of this subject truly was required, then he would have to question. "This will both sound stupid and truly ironic after your last revelation, but I do not understand. How and why were they charged with this task?"

The Elders chuckled at that, even Neroon smiled at his brother's bit of humor. "You both know that our birth rates have been steadily falling for cycles now?" Again, both brothers nodded and Durhann went on. "What you do not know is just how badly those numbers have been declining nor how many new-born babes are lost each cycle. The numbers are frightening, young ones."

"Even the Councils do not know the extent of the losses. Only the Order does - and those very, very few of us that work with them. This situation is very serious my young Warriors. It is also something you must never speak of outside our number. If the truth of the losses were known, there would be mass panic in the Federation." Durhann again took a steadying breath and looked solemnly at each brother in turn. "Sarhat, Neroon, if the decline in birth rates and child loses continue in this manner, we as a species will die out within three - possibly four if we are very, very lucky - generations from now."

The brothers were stunned, though Neroon was able to recover more quickly due to the suspicions he had formed in this matter with his time on the Council. "I have suspected that the situation was much more dire than what I was being told, but not that our extinction would happen so soon," he said quietly.

Neroon then snorted angrily, letting the anger bring him out of his stupor completely. "Let me make a few now educated guesses here. First, the forced integration of the different Minbari proto-species is the cause of our very soon to be extinction. Second, the Vorlons, or the Shadows and/or possibly both are somehow responsible for that forced - and in the end unstable - evolution. Third, the Order had found this piece of information out as part of their research in the time of the first war and was then sworn to silence under pain of death by Valen because we needed the Vorlons as allies in the first war. And fourth - and possibly most disturbing - do you mean to tell us that this calamity had been foreseen over fifteen hundred cycles earlier by our genetic specialists and that in all that time they have been so inept as to not find an answer to it? Or better yet, were not able to negotiate, beg and/or steal it from the Vorlons?" he ground out.

Turval snorted. "You are both right and wrong in your deductions, Neroon. Yes, the forced evolution, as you call it, is responsible. Yes, the Vorlons are responsible. Yes, this end had been foreseen over fifteen hundred cycles ago and no, the Order has not been inept. A solution had been found in Valen's time and has been found again, but it is one that will NOT be accepted if there is no understanding. Also, Valen himself refused any negotiation on the issue with the Vorlons, specifically stating that he did not trust them not to double-cross us. Now, I must ask you, why and how did you deduce that Valen himself sealed the knowledge as a state secret and how did you deduce that the Ancient Ones were responsible for our current genome?"

It was Neroon's turn to give a disdainful snort. "First off, you two already told us that if we spoke of this to anyone else, our lives were forfeit on the orders of Valen himself, that made it rather obvious, didn't it? As to the other question, I do not see the Vorlons as the benevolent beings that most of our people do. I have patrolled to the outer reaches of known space. I have seen entire worlds that have been devastated long ago, worlds that are nothing more than cold husks of what they once were. And, my friends, the energy readings emitted to this day from those worlds speak of Vorlon weapons."

"Of these worlds, and of these readings, I was told to never speak again. I was ordered to simply forget that I had ever seen them. Yet how could I do such a thing? How could I forget an end that may be our own if we were to ever displease our rather cold and unforthcoming allies?" Neroon gave a bitter smile. "If they are so ruthless as to destroy entire worlds, then a bit of gene splicing is nothing to them." Neroon snorted again. "Valen was right - as always. If they saw a benefit to themselves in it, the Vorlons would easily have double-crossed us with this matter."

Now Durhann was intrigued by the workings of the mind of this young Warrior. "And what made you so sure that it was the Vorlons and not the Shadows that were responsible even as you qualified your earlier question with both?"

Neroon snorted again, "If the Shadows had been responsible, we all know that none of us would be able to so freely question that ancient act, now don't we?"

They all chuckled at that answer, knowing Neroon's statement was just too true. A very shaken Sarhat then managed to finally ask a question. "If this is true, if the Vorlons truly are responsible for who we are now, why did they do such a thing? Why did they create a species they must have known was unstable?"

Durhann and Turval looked at each other, and Turval began that answer with a question. "Have either of you studied our system's astronomy?"

Both nodded, and a look of dawning understanding came over both of them. Sarhat voiced it first. "The missing moon and our irregular orbit! Somehow they must have been responsible!"

"Yes," said Neroon, "The Vorlons and Shadows must have been in conflict in our system in during the dawning of our species. The battle must have destroyed what should have been Minbar's largest satellite and the shock wave of that destruction pushed the planet out of its true orbit. That is why we have a set of astral debris rings in orbit as well as moons - and not the planet's higher gravity. That's why our climate is so much colder now! Why Minbar is in a perpetual ice age!"

Sarhat took over. "There was also a huge amount of damage done to the planet's surface as well. Remember your geology, brother? Remember the layers of ash and debris that are seen in the fossil records, remember the evidence of huge tidal shifts, volcanic and seismic activity that are there yet never completely explained to us as school children? Remember the records of massive flora and fauna die offs as well?"

Neroon nodded. "Yes, it all makes sense now. Also, as the environment very rapidly changed to one they were not acclimated to and the food sources for the top three predators disappeared, so would they have. I think I understand all it now, I think I know why they did it. The Vorlons were probably responsible for what would have been the destruction of a species they felt would have potential - and would be of use to them - in the far future and therefore did what they thought would save that species, or at least let it reach its potential and fulfill its usefulness to them before its end."

Durhann nodded. "Yes, you two are essentially correct, though we will never know who was actually responsible for the destruction of the missing moon."

Sarhat shook his head again. "To think we are here only by the grace of the Vorlons' guilt."

Neroon snorted. "I would say by the Vorlons' need for future tools, little brother. The Ancient Ones have never seemed ones to suffer such emotions as guilt. Now, my most honored teachers, you have said something before that has been niggling in my mind even as we spoke of the calamity that caused the birth of our species. You said that the cure, for the lack of a better word, of our genetic instability was found in Valen's time and again now. What is it? And why would the population not accept it, even if they were told that it would save us from extinction?"

Sorval and Durhann looked at each other again, each trying silently to convince the other to answer this question. Finally, after a prolonged and silent stalemate, Turval pulled a coin out of his pocket, and the two highly perplexed brothers were treated to an example of a decision-making coin toss ala Jeff Sinclair. A very disgruntled Durhann lost.


	8. Chapter 7

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Seven

Durhann asked for a short recess in the lecture in order to get his thoughts together before going on. The old pike Master really didn't know where to begin with this one since the time paradox had come full circle, though the two young Warriors sitting before him didn't know it. To them, Sinclair was just another Human and _Id'Minbari_ were a political sop the Religious Caste had thrown their way. Durhann snorted quietly to himself at that thought. Oh, _Id'Minbari _were real enough, just not in the context that the rest of the population thought they were. And when the true context came out, there would be a firestorm of protest the likes of which the Federation had never seen before. Finally, after finishing another cup of the calming tea and marshalling his thoughts, the Master was ready to begin.

Again, the Master began his explanation with a question, "Knowing what you know now, can either of you tell me why the war with Earth was such an unmitigated disaster?'

The two brothers snorted in unison and after a nod from Neroon, a frustrated Sarhat gave the answer. "Where to start, my Teacher? Should we begin with the horrendous political fallout; that of the civil war you have said is brewing because of the old wounds from the war; a civil war that is sure to end our existence even sooner than expected? Or perhaps with the losses that we have suffered in the war and that we now know have only hastened our races' extinction? What about starting with the horrendous emotional and spiritual wounds of the war them selves?"

"Or should we start with the blight we have given to our honor as a race, for we are now known both as a species willing to commit genocide and as one that breaks even their most sacred Vows, thanks to that insanity of a sop that Delenn has thrown out? How about starting with the fact that the only currently space-faring species that has the psychological fortitude, if not the technology, to truly ally with us against the Shadows is now waiting in the wings to finish us off due to the fact that we almost wiped them out? Where should we begin, Master?"

Sarhat shook his head and sighed. "It is truly an irony that the Humans don't even have to do anything now, my Elders. By declaring Holy War on them we have surly sealed our own end. All they have to do is wait and fate with serve their vengeance to them."

The two Elders nodded. Sarhat had succinctly given an answer to the question with the information currently available to him. Unfortunately, even as bad as the consequences that the young _Alyt_ had listed were, there was one even worse – and it was one the two brothers did not even know. Durhann took another sip of tea before starting the explanation.

"As the Humans are so fond of saying, it only gets better from here." Sarhat looked at the Elder with a puzzled expression, and the old Master chuckled. "It is a bit of Human sarcasm, _filisil_. It means exactly the opposite of what is said. The expression means that the situation is even worse than what you would expect it to be."

Neroon did not like that statement at all. "Just how much worse than the extinction of our race can it be?" he growled out.

Durhann chuckled bitterly. "It can get worse Neroon, and it has. It has gotten worse because of the fact that Shadow-controlled factions have taken over EarthDome. It has gotten worse because our race does not have to die out, but because of our ignorance and that Shadow-be-damned lesson of obedience over understanding combined with Delenn's blood lust, we probably will. It has gotten worse because, at the end of it all my students, the Humans hold our fate in the palms of their fragile hands."

The brothers were stunned into a prolonged silence by that statement. Finally, Sarhat broke it. The young _Alyt_ whispered out a ragged, "How?" It was all he could manage to say.

Durhann took a steadying breath to go on when he was cut off by Neroon's bitter laugh. "Don't you see it, little brother? It is so simple now that the Elder has pointed it out. The Masters said that a cure for the genetic instability had been found in Valen's time, and that it has been found again in this time. Don't you see, little brother? Why would a cure have to be found a second time, why unless it no longer existed on Minbar or any of our colonies? What if this so-called cure in not a cure but a treatment? An element or botanical product that the Order has clandestinely made sure our people have taken over the cycles until it has been utterly depleted from our resources?"

Neroon laughed bitterly again as his brother gasped in compression of his hypothesis. "And – and it has gotten worse because the only other planet that it can be found on is controlled by the Earth Alliance," Sarhat said and then buried his face in his hands and groaned as if in mortal pain before finding the strength to go on.

"By the ancient Gods, brother! Delenn has doomed us all! No matter the end to the second war with the Ancient Enemy, our race is at an end! Humanity will never trade the medication to us, not after everything they have suffered at our hands. As they have done with the Dilgar, they will do with us. They will simply let nature do the killing for them. They will never even have to sully their hands with our blood as we have with theirs."

The young _Alyt_ began to literally cry. "We cannot fight both Humanity and the Shadows at the same time. And if we are so blessed as to actually prevail against the Shadows, we will still be too weak to go war against Earth for whatever or wherever the medication is or is located, and once they find out exactly how terrible our situation truly is, they will never trade it to us!"

Sahrat shook his head sadly as he regained control of his emotions. "My brother, I did not want to believe Shakiri. I did not want our people to have to truly let the Shadows eradicate the Humans while we waited and watched. I did not believe our situation was so dire, or that we could ever need to be so dishonorable! But... But if we don't take such an action, our own people are doomed – and all because of the orders of a madly grieving girl! Not only have we lost all honor both by the declaration of Holy War on the Humans and at its end; in surrendering and breaking Holy Vows, but now in order for our people to live, we must now let a race that our so-called moral authorities have declared our siblings in spirit die, siblings we almost murdered off, at the hands of our enemies. Oh Valen, just how much lower can we sink?!"

Neroon sadly nodded to his distraught younger brother. "I did not want to believe Shakiri at first either, Sarhat. I had thought him mad in the beginning, but over the cycles he had convinced me of his position. Shakiri must know, little brother. He must know about this situation already. It is the only explanation for what he has proposed."

Then Elders countenances darkened at what the brothers were saying. They both did not like the erroneous conclusions that the younger Warriors were reaching. Nor did they like being ignored so completely by them, and for that matter, they truly HATED the idea that a madman such as Shakiri may have some clue as to what was truly Minbar's most dangerous state secret.

Neither brother noticed the Elders' reactions as Neroon went on, "And it is worse because the Elder has stated that the Shadows have somehow taken control of the Human government. That leads me to believe that they know about both the genetic instability and what the treatment for it is. Why else would they take such an action? My brother, it may be that the Ancient Enemy does not even wish to waste their resources in fighting against us at all. Perhaps they wish to wait it out, to wait for our end and then marshal their resources to fight the Vorlons. After all, why waste resources fighting an inferior foe when the equal and/or possibly superior one is waiting in the wings? Why not simply strangle the inferior enemies' forces. It is done all the time in war. This time would simply be done permanently."

Sarhat looked at his brother pensively as the two younger Warriors continued to completely block out the Elders while analyzing the hypothesis. After the younger Warrior regained a much firmer control of his emotions, he began to ask some rather insightful questions. "If we are the inferior force being used as a buffer against the Shadows, then why did the Vorlons not stop the war with the Humans in the first place? I cannot believe that they did not know of the treatment, nor can I believe that they did not know of the availability of it both within the Federation and the Earth Alliance. If we truly are useful tools to them, then why would they let us commit suicide by letting us commit to a Holy War against the Humans? How would our extinction help them?"

Now this was a something new! Both Neroon and Sarhat had hit on new topics that had not been thought of before – and both made sense. The Elders knew that they had to cut into the young Warriors' conversation now, both the give the true explanation and to have them further investigate Neroon's hypotheses as well as Sarhat's questioning of it.

"Young ones, please, listen to us now," Durhann interrupted.

At the Elder's words, both brothers turned to him with expression of surprise. They had truly forgotten the presence of the two Elders as they had hypothesized and strategized. Both flushed in embarrassment and offered their sincerest apologies for being so rude to their Elders.

Durhann chuckled at the younger Warriors' discomfort. He waved off their apologies and went on with his explanation. "First, I want to say that the logical extrapolations you both have made, especially you Neroon, are excellent. With the information you currently possess, your deductions have been rather remarkable. You have both also come up with answers to questions that have been bothering Turval and myself for some time. Sarhat, you have also asked some VERY insightful questions as to why our so-called allies let us make such a huge blunder as to wage a Holy War against Humanity."

Both brothers flushed at the praise given by the Elder. Durhann was not known for giving out praise, which made the experience even more memorable for both of his old students. Sarhat lowered his eyes in respect and bowed to the old Warrior in thanks, and even Neroon who now outranked his old teacher, did the same.

Again, Durhann waved away their actions. "You have done well, but again, neither of you possess all the information, therefore your conclusions have flaws. First off young ones, your conclusion that the Order only found a treatment and not a cure is incorrect; the cure that had been found in Valen's day and again now is truly a cure. The problem with the cure in Valen's time was its availability. In that again, Neroon you were correct, you just had the time frame reversed. It is much more readily available now than in Valen's time."

Both brother were now completely confused but that statement. How could a cure that the Earth Alliance possessed be more available to the Minbari now when their government was Shadow controlled and their people would in all probability rather watch the Minbari die then give them what was needed? How could that be?

"Master, I hate to say this, but you have definitely been spending too much time conversing with the Religious Caste. Your answer has more twists in it than a Centauri courtier's escape plan!" The entire group chuckled at that statement. "I do not think that either of us understand what you are implying, my Teacher. Could you please explain more clearly?" asked a very perplexed Neroon.

Durhann sighed. This was where the explanation was going to get tricky. "It may seem that way to you now, but hopefully you will understand soon. The cure, my young friend, came from Valen's own genetics. It came from his, his mate's and his inner circles' genetic contribution to our people. It came from his races' genetic contribution to ours."

Turval had to consciously keep himself from laughing at the sight of the two brothers. Their reactions to this piece of information were priceless. They reminded the old Warrior of a small Earth marine animal that one of his Human students kept as a pet, a "goalfish" or "goulfish" or some such.

Finally, Neroon gathered the wits to speak. "A Minbari not born of Minbari, a Minbari born of a different race. How in the name of the Old Ones could that even be possible... Oh yes, the oh so altruistic Vorlons, but... A Minbari born of a different race over one thousand cycles and the Earth... NO!! It cannot be! NO!! NO!!" The _Satai_ shouted out before jumping from his chair and beginning to pace.

"Humans are over a thousand of their years behind us in technology! They were still using animals as transportation when Valen came to us with an entire space station of arms, arms equivalent to our own in technology. What you are implying is impossible!" Neroon practically cried out in agitation.

"Neroon, sit down!" Turval ordered the severely agitated _Satai_. Once the younger Warrior was as settled and had calmed down as much as possible, Turval nodded to his fellow Teacher. Durhann had lost that coin toss, and by all that Minbar held Holy, he wasn't going to be let out of giving the explanation!

Duhann took over with a sour look aimed at his colleague. He started the story at the very beginning of the War, with Duhkat's death, and went on in greater detail from there. The old Teacher covered the political aspects of how the orders for Holy War came about and more. He spoke of the virulent opposition that the Order had to it and how everyone summarily ignored them. He spoke of everything that had happened, from all the overtures of peace from Earth to all the campaigns of eradication waged by their Caste. Durhann explained exactly when and how Delenn came to her senses and just how much of a clandestine influence her mother, a member of the Order, had on that change of heart.

Then came the story of Delenn's meeting with Sheridan StarKiller and G'Kar and how it ended. From there, the old teacher took them through the Battle of the Line, the incredible, stupid luck of Delenn picking out Sinclair to be her test subject from the battlefield, the true uses of the triluminaries and what the Council found out. He then took the two shell-shocked young Warriors through the twisted tale of the Babylon project and what it really entailed. Finally, the old Master ended his tale with just how Sinclair became Valen, how he disappeared into the past with Babylon Four, how Drall and the Great Machine had affected the first war and would affect the one to come and how all the promotions and elevations had therefore come from Valen himself. The old Master even included the story of revered man's lost in time fiancée and how she became so crucial to the Minbaris' survival.

When the Elder finished speaking, another prolonged stunned silence fell on the room. Again, it was Sarhat who broke it. He broke it with hysterical laughter at first. After he'd laughed until tears ran from his eyes and the others had thought that he'd been unhinged by the revelation, the young _Alyt_ began to speak.

"Oh, but this is too rich and just too ironic! We almost wiped out the only species that can save us from our own extinction and even though we stopped that genocide at the last minute, STILL we will die by our own hands!" Sarhat gasped out.

Durhann looked at the young Warrior in puzzlement. "Why do you say that young one? Delenn and Sheridan StarKiller are proving that a mixed species match can work even as we speak. The plan to bring Humans into the _Anla'Shok_ has also worked well. Those in the Rangers have acclimated to us and for the most part have been able to forgive us for the Earth-Minbari War. If asked, most would gladly donate genetic material for use once the need is known and we have convinced our people to use it. The dangers come from the following facts."

"The first is that our people may not accept the truth in time to save them selves and even the obedience that has been ingrained into our culture will not help with that. They MUST be made to understand how great the threat truly is and accept the medical help. Then there is the fact that there is such a small group of Humans within the Federation, a too small group to provide enough genetic material to permanently stabilize the problem. This was also the problem in Valen's time, and that is why we find our selves at this crossroads and why we need more help from Humanity as a whole. There is also the fact that the current Earth Alliance government is Shadow controlled, they could very easily poison the Humans so that they would no longer be able to help. The Shadows would not have to wipe them out at all. And let's not forget that the majority of Humans still despise us. That alone may have the majority of Humans side with the Shadows against us in the war."

Neroon snorted at his Teachers words. "It comes back to that thorny issue of obedience over understanding, my old Master, but in a whole new light. No matter the amount of explanations, we could never truly get them to understand, not after all this time, and this would be one order they would NOT obey. We will NEVER be able to convince our people use, um, "donated genetic material" in order to have their children be born through bioengineering. Bioengineering! You know that this is something that is utterly repugnant to most of our people. All of our laws and customs have reflected that popular feeling and have made that practice impossible for millennia. Even with an explanation that this would be the only way to save our species, they would still not do it. Our people would rather die out than let their children be "experimented on" like some lab animal. It is against everything they believe in!"

"Even the more acceptable route is closed to them because of custom and law. If others were to try and follow Delenn's example and take a Human mate in order to have a child that way - a way that would still need medical intervention, mind you – our laws forbid it. Our laws forbid Minbari from taking non-Minbari mates. We all know that these laws were enacted by the Grey Council and can only be overturned by the Grey Council, which would of course force them – us – into admitting that our predecessors – _our Elders _– were wrong. So tell me my Teacher, just what are the odds of something like that happening? - Oh, and let's not forget the ingrained arrogance and xenophobia that would make any of the mentioned routes almost impossible for most of the population!" Neroon finished.

Sarhat nodded and added to his brother's words. "We can call the Humans _Id'Minbari_, we can tell the people that Humanity is a sister race, we can tell them that our Savior is - was - actually a Human, we can tell them that most of our population carries Human genetics and that we will not survive as a species without inter-mating with them. We can say all of this and our people will STILL choose to die out rather give up their "purity" and their position as an "old" race, a "more evolved" race. Face it, my Teachers, no matter how this war with the Shadows ends, our species is doomed and has been doomed by our own stiff-necked pride."

Before the Elders could refute the young Warriors, Sarhat's communications console cut them off and Sarhat went to answer it. The incoming call was from the healer. Rama'Fi had news in regards to his Human patients.

"I thought that you would be relieved to know that our Human guests will live," was all that the healer said before he signed off.


	9. Chapter 8

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Eight

It had been nearly ten Standard weeks since the _Ingata_ had picked up the distress signal of the destroyed White Star. Since then, the two Star Riders Sons had had their worlds and their lives turned upside down. Not only had they learned that their understanding of the universe, not to mention their entire way of life was a fallacy, but that they were now in the position of either making or breaking a very fragile alliance that the very survival of their species depended on. The alliance depended on just how well they could deliver their respective apologies to the Humans in Healer Rama'Fi's medlab. Needless to say, both the _Satai _and the _Alyt_ were very concerned about the upcoming meeting with the Humans, especially since they would have to deal with the presence of two Elders and Healer Rama'Fi, who seemed to have adopted the mannerisms of his Human namesake, during the meeting as well.

There were a few things going for Sarhat and Neroon, though. When they met with the Commander and her Executive Officer, they would at least they have some good news for the Humans. After an exhaustive search, over three quarters of their crew had been recovered. The losses to the _Anla'Shok_ crew had not been as bad as had been first predicted.

The _Ingata_ had also been in contact with _Entil'Zha_ Delenn and Babylon 5's Captain and through them had been able to reestablish contact with the listening post that the courier ship had come from. They were now on en route to meet with another courier ship that was carrying a second set of intelligence crystals. By some miracle, neither the listening post nor the vital data had been lost.

Between the politicking with Delenn, Sheridan and the Human doctor of Babylon 5 (who for some odd reason had developed a friendship and an ongoing communication with Healer Rama'Fi) – none of whom trusted either brother – and the two Elders, the two young Warriors were at whit's end. Then they had had to deal with their crew, their Clan and the rest of the Caste while trying to convince everyone to work with the Army of Light. And hadn't it been a lovely experience trying to explain their sudden reversals on this issue without revealing their knowledge of the truth?

Through all of this, Neroon was in also contact with the Grey Council and Sarhat remained in command of the _Ingata_ and lead the rescue mission for the destroyed White Star's crew. It would be an understatement of galactic proportions to say that Sarhat and Neroon had been extremely busy. The brothers had barely had any time to sleep, let alone eat. Both were to the point where they were wishing they were the ones taking a medlab holiday.

On the other hand, Commander Ivanova and _Anla'Shok_ Cole were wishing that they were anywhere but on their medlab holiday. To put it simply, Susan and Marcus were bored. They were totally, utterly and pathetically bored. The two Humans had been restricted to the _Ingata's_ medlab for over nine Standard weeks and were now going stir-crazy. All though they had been unconscious or practically unconscious for five of those nine weeks, that little fact did nothing to alleviate Susan and Marcus's rising ire and boredom.

The two professional soldiers were not used this amount of inactivity. Unfortunately for them, until that week, their injuries had kept them virtually immobile. Having multiple broken bones and sprains each, lungs that had been cut to shreds by microscopic shards of pumice and volcanic glass and heart muscles that had been damaged by the chemical reactions of their blood combining with the toxic gases their damaged life pod couldn't filter out precluded doing anything more than laying on their respective padded medical platforms and counting sealing tiles.

They had also engaged in sleeping and playing inane word games with each other via data pad. They'd quickly found out that speaking is a challenge when one's throat has been lacerated and one had stressed it past all acceptable points by engaging in a screaming match. They had also found out that speaking is a challenge when one is also attached to an O2 tank. Of course, their pain had only earned them an, "I could have told that would happen" and no sympathy at all from their Healer.

Once Susan and Marcus systems recovered from both the shock of the surgeries and the stresses of their starvation and could again digest food, the highlights of the two patients' day consisted of eating very highly regulated, puréed, liquefied and/or otherwise pulverized bland and tasteless meals. And oh, but of course, how could they EVER forget their respiratory exercises – read torture sessions – designed to help rebuild their lung capacity and – oh joy of joys – their morning and evening walks – read agonizing hobbles – around the medlab. All of this went without mentioning all the humiliating little "necessities" associated with being immobile and being stuck in bed! In other words, neither had had a worse medlab stay.

Both Susan and Marcus had quickly come to the point where they were cursing Rama'Fi under their breaths and openly referring to him – by text or otherwise – as Lucifer, Beelzebub, Satan and all other known names for the Devil. The two Humans also made it a point to thank God and Valen (or Jeff, since Susan refused to use the man's Minbari name) that they only had to deal with Steven on B5. The two crankiest patients on the Station had quickly found out that Healer Rama'Fi ran a tight ship and that HIS WORD WAS LAW in the _Ingata's_ medlab.

Seeing a_ Satai_, two politically powerful Elders and the _Ingata's Alyt_ literally run out of medlab two days after they had awoken from their comas had told them everything that they needed to know about their Healer. It had told the Humans NEVER to push Rama'Fi past his breaking point. As Marcus had once written to Susan in a fit of morbidity over their situation, Steven had nothing on Rama'Fi because:

Point one; Rama'Fi was no pushover and would never fall for their usual BS as to why they should be let out of medlab early and/or at least be allowed to complete paperwork while staying there. Also, his assistants were way too observant for anyone to be able to sneak out.

Point two; the Healer brooked no arguments as to who was in charge in HIS medlab – and Warrior Caste Chain of Command be-damned!

Point three; Rama'Fi had the opportunity to make their stay in his medlab even worse if they were TOO rebellious.

And point four; when four of the most powerful Minbari in the Federation ask how high when Rama'Fi says jump, you just KNEW you were in trouble if you crossed him!

Now that Healer Rama'Fi had taken them off the O2 tanks and loosened the worst of his restrictions for almost a week, they were almost at the end of their tethers. Rama'FI had earlier banned most forms of entertainment because he had wanted them to concentrate on healing meditations for as much of their day as possible. Unfortunately, the meditation hurt the Humans more than it helped, since it brought back memories of their lost White Star and their lost crew. When the Healers saw that, they only allowed guided meditations from that point on.

That was when Rama'Fi allowed the data pads to be brought in, thinking that not only would they help with communication but would also occupy the Humans. What the Healer hadn't counted on was the fact that both Humans had been taught to NEVER keep journals of any kind since it would be so easy to let something classified slip that way. Nor had he foreseen the extremely short attention spans of his patients brought on by their stay on Planet Hell. Therefore, the Commander and the Ranger were now so bored that Susan had enthusiastically agreed to have Marcus tutor her in _Adronato_ and _Adrihi'e_ (the ancient Minbari language), just so they could have something to do. As their stay in medlab approached the tenth Standard week, Susan and Marcus were quickly reaching what they called their point of no return.

They'd come up with two rather dangerous options as how to relieve their boredom. They knew that they would be taking their lives into their hands with either option, but they were THAT desperate! Their first option was trying to bribe one of the assistant Healers into bringing them any type of reading material, board games, music crystals, anything entertaining (they knew better than to ask for anything in regards to work) and/or asking anyone, even Neroon (the most unwelcome being on Rama'Fi's persona non-grata list), to come to the medlab just so they could talk about SOMETHING to SOMEBODY other than each other! Their second option they considered Geneva Convention banned torture, but if nothing else worked they'd go with it. The Option of Last Resort was treating the medlab staff to a performance of "Henry the Eighth I Am" from Hell until their demands were met or their newly healed voices gave out.

On the other hand, while Susan and Marcus were losing it, Rama'Fi took his Human patients' grumbling in stride. He'd dealt with healing, short-tempered, often violent, profanely insulting and unbearably obnoxious Warriors his entire career. So to him, the two quietly grumbling, needling, bribing, cajoling, begging, whining and name-calling Humans seemed to be actually well behaved.

After all, the Humans stayed put and followed his directions. They hadn't tried to sneak out of medlab. They hadn't thrown their meals at anyone or threatened the careers, families and/or lives of his assistants. And if they were cursing anyone out, they at least were while no one was listening and/or were using languages that no one in medlab knew. Of course, Rama'Fi had no idea just how much Susan and Marcus were reining their respective tempers in, nor did he know of the rebellion that they were planning.

The Healer had even looked up the names they were calling him and gotten a good laugh out of the fact that his actual name translated to "Morning Star", better known as the Human Devil. The sadistic side of him even liked the translation and had one of his aides tack up a sign in med lab reading:

_"To all Warriors that choose to misbehave in MY medlab, let it be known that Rama'Fi when translated to Standard means, "Demon of Eternal Torment". Now, since we know that Humans and Minbari share souls, do any of you REALLY want to push your luck?_"

This sign, not to mention Rama'Fi's praise of their behavior, had NOT endeared Marcus and Susan to the crew of the _Ingata_. The Warriors had already had to deal with Rama'Fi's iron-fisted medical dictatorship. They did NOT need for him to have any more ammunition against all of them. Due to this new tempest in a teapot and the Healer's restrictions, Susan and Marcus's boredom had been inadvertently added to. Not that Rama'Fi noticed, of course.

Even through all of the grumbling and name-calling by the Human and Minbari Warriors alike, Healer Rama'Fi was quite cheerful in his own way since, in his learned opinion, Susan and Marcus were healing at an acceptable rate. It had taken almost four Standard weeks for the two Humans on board the _Ingata_ to heal to a point where Healer Rama'Fi felt confident enough to bring them out of the medically induced comas he'd put them in after their emergency surgeries. It had been another two Standard weeks before the Healer would allow anyone other than his assistants to see the Human patients.

On top of THAT, the "four instigators" as he called them, had not been allowed anywhere near Humans for another three Standard weeks after that. After everything that Rama'Fi had done to save the two Humans' lives he had NOT allowed those four fools to undo it all! All the Healer had needed was to have one of those idiots restart that shouting match, and then the two Human Warriors would have been back on the breath-assist tanks.

Now that the Healer's deadline was almost up, Rama'Fi braced his grumbling patients, nervous staff and precious medlab for the inevitable showdown. He knew that he couldn't keep the four Warriors out forever, and when they did come to see the Humans that there would be some very profuse apologizing by the Sons of the Clan or there would be _Den'shah_ Challenges issued. With the positions that the Human Lady Warrior and the _Anla'Shok_ held, there would be no way for the Elders to avert those consequences.


	10. Chapter 9

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: ThirdCharm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Nine

Later in life, as Susan and Marcus looked back on their adventures on board the _Ingata_, they would take a perverse pleasure in noting that the opening salvo of the war between the Army of Light Chain of Command and Healer Rama'Fi hadn't come from Satai Neroon, but from then Captain Sheridan, a.k.a. Sheridan "StarKiller" if you were Warrior Cast, himself. Oh, it didn't start an actual battle between the Healer and the Captain. Oh no, not at all! What that salvo did was tear a parsec wide strip off of Susan's hide and open the medlab door wide open for Neroon and his entourage.

At the beginning of the tenth Standard week of Susan and Marcus's incarceration in Healer Rama'Fi's medlab, Sheridan made a very polite call to the Healer himself. The Captain opened the dialogue with relevant, though harmless, questions in regards to "his officers' health". Once Sheridan had lulled the fanatically overprotective Healer into a false sense of security, he oh so politely asked to speak in private to the two Humans in question.

Rama'Fi, having never dealt with a Senior Officer that had treated him with the respect he thought he was due, nor shown – in Rama'Fi's opinion anyway – such a profound and real interest in the health of their command, had of course told the Captain that he would set up a private comm. link to his medlab so that the "Most Honored Human _Alyt_" could see the progress his officers had made for himself. Once the comm. screen had been brought to the medlab and the secured comm. link had been established, Rama'FI and his assistants left in order to give the Humans privacy.

As the medlab emptied of everyone but Susan and Marcus, Sheridan sternly looked at his two officers through the comm. screen. He had a concerned but still stern look on his face. Susan had seen that look before; usually when somebody screwed up bad enough to almost get killed. Susan knew that they were in for it. That specifically, SHE was in for it, and she knew exactly WHY she was in for it too.

When the medlab had emptied but for the two Humans, Susan addressed her Captain, "They're gone, sir. We can speak freely."

"That's good, Commander," Sheridan said in an icy voice that made both Susan and Marcus wince. What was worse was that he'd called Susan "Commander". Even Marcus, who had had limited exposure to the Captain until now, knew that when Sheridan went to addressing someone by that person's rank, well, then that someone was already in DEEP sh--, um, kimchi.

Sheridan continued in that same icy voice, "First off, I need to know exactly – and that means no bullshit from you, Marcus – what your field readiness status is."

Susan answered as Marcus flushed at the comment aimed at his medical recalcitrance. Susan answered as truthfully as she could. The Commander knew that even slightly fudging the answer would get them in even hotter water.

"To put it bluntly, Captain, we're both just barely getting around on our own. We're still weak as kittens and the PT that the Devil Healer has us doing is about the extent of our physical abilities. I hate to admit this, but field assignments are not on either Marcus's or my list of capabilities at the moment. We can though, perform any, uh, clerical duties associated with our posts. Don't let the Healers convince you that we aren't capable of keeping up with even that!" Susan desperately finished, hoping that the Captain would at least have some mercy on them and forward their collective mountains of paperwork to the _Ingata_ before she and her brother had to implement the Option of Last Resort.

Sheridan sighed at having Steven and Rama'FI's diagnosis confirmed by the Russian Iron Maiden. Sheridan knew that if Susan and Marcus were both that badly off that they had to admit to the need for continued medical care, then they were both feeling even worse than they were letting on. The fact that they were both now unavailable for current combat assignments put a good-sized crimp in his deployment plans as well. As Sheridan ran through what Susan had said a second time, he caught what she'd called the Minbari Healer. He swallowed a chuckle at the dig.

Then Sheridan lifted an eyebrow and called his XO on the carpet for it. ""Devil Healer", Commander?"

As Susan blushed and stammered, Marcus quickly jumped into the conversation, "Actually, that seems to have become a compliment around here, Captain. Ever since Healer Rama'FI learned that his name translated to "Morning Star" and the Human connotations of that name, he's been using it to terrify any Warrior that won't follow his medical instructions." Marcus chuckled and went on, "Our Healer seems to really love it when we refer to him by any name meant for Satan."

Both of Sheridan's eyebrows went up at Marcus's statement. Then he started laughing. The Captain didn't stop laughing until he had tears running down his cheeks and a cramp in his side.

"Oh, God! Now I know why Steven is always laughing like a hyena on Dust every time he gets off the comm. after speaking to your Healer!" Sheridan managed gasp out.

Marcus and Susan paled at that little bombshell. "St – Steven and the Devil Healer are talking to each other?!" Marcus stuttered out.

Sheridan took a look at the two terrified faces filling his comm. screen and smirked. "Yes, you two, they are. Which means that Steven has learned everything about everything that's wrong with you two. That also means that there's no way you'll be able to pull the wool over his eyes as to how long you'll be on med leave and then work restriction when you get back."

"That's probably not all he's learned," Susan muttered under her breath.

Sheridan heard it anyway. And he was NOT happy with his XO's tone of voice "What was that, Commander?" He questioned forcefully.

Susan paled, gulped and immediately regrouped. "I said, "That's probably not all he's learned." You know Steven, John. He can never pass up an opportunity to learn anything new in the field of medicine."

Sheridan just stared at her - HARD. "Uh-huh. I'm sure that's EXACTLY what you meant. Be that as it may, that's not what I went to all this trouble to talk to the both of you for." Sheridan then turned that icy gaze on Marcus. "Since this came from your side of the pond, tell me, what is the famous little saying that was passed down through time from the British Royal Navy Yards, hmm?"

Marcus paled even further as he managed to get out, "It's, "Loose lips sink ships." sir."

Sheridan then turned his cold yet furious attention back to Ivanova. "And do you know what that little saying means, Commander?"

Susan was just as pale as Marcus as she practically barked out, "Sir, yes, sir!" as if she were a first year cadet again.

"Then tell me, Commander, just what in the hell were you thinking when you told those damned Minbari fools the truth about our ranks in the Army of Light? Don't you even remember what Jeff said about that? Remember the need for secrecy? Remember just whom our contacts say Neroon is allied with? Don't you have ANY idea of the damage you have just done? Just where the fuck was your mind?" Sheridan practically screamed out.

Susan began to gulp in desperate breaths as she tried to answer. "Captain, I..."

Sheridan viciously cut her off. "Don't you dare try and give me any of the crap that Durhann slung in my direction about honor and insults! If you can't give me a damned good tactical reason for destroying what ever chance we have of bringing the entire Warrior Caste into this war as well as any chance of saving their stupid hides in the long run – if there is a long run – then you can bet your Russian ass you'll be up on charges, _Commander_!"

Marcus took one look at Susan and knew that if he didn't get deflect the Captain soon, Susan would take a turn for the worse health wise. "Captain, please! With all due respect, I think we all need to tone this down, sir!" He practically yelled out. He went on in a more controlled tone. "This – this, ah, "confrontation" isn't doing either Susan or myself any good health wise, sir."

The Ranger's outburst brought the Captain's tirade to a sudden stop. Sheridan swallowed his next verbal barrage and took a good look at the two he had been in the process of verbally flambéing and finally noticed their pasty grey complexions, the beads of sweat on their brows and their labored breathing; the labored breathing that hadn't been there when their "conversation" had first started. The Captain swore to himself as his anger shifted focus from Susan's "loose lips" to himself for not being able to rein his temper in.

Sheridan was now kicking himself for not seeing Susan and Marcus's reaction to the stress he'd put them under before; stress he shouldn't have put them under in the first place! The Captain viciously and loudly swore at himself as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. One of his ironclad rules was to not kick his people – no matter how badly they'd screwed the pooch – while they were down. And thanks to the damned Shadows and the just as damned Minbari cultural stupidity, he'd just broken it.

Susan and Marcus both breathed a sigh a relief as Sheridan shifted his focus away from them to himself. They stayed silent as they watched their Captain work through his frustrations with them, himself, the Minbari, the war effort and the situation as a whole. Finally after Sheridan had gotten a hold of himself and they had both somewhat recovered, the discussion began again, this time with Sheridan laying down the law.

Sheridan took a calming breath before he began speaking, then said, "O.K., you two, the damage is done and unless we can "do the time warp again" ala Draal and his Great Machine, we can't undo it. What that means is this; you two are now on damage control, kiddies."

Marcus and Susan again paled at that announcement. The Commander then tried to answer her CO but ended up choking on her indignation. Marcus didn't react much better to the news, he flushed, stuttered and sputtered in anger, and it took him four tries before he finally got, "Sir, you can't possibly mean what I think you mean!" out.

In the moment the Captain took to savor the horror on the faces of his two officers, Marcus would later swear that he saw the flames of Hell flicker in Sheridan's eyes as he chuckled in sadistic glee. From their combined reactions, Sheridan knew that this was the perfect solution to the problem, not to mention the perfect punishment for these two of the innumerable causes of his nightly heartburn. He mentally patted himself on the back for his own cleverness.

In a very self-satisfied voice he answered, "Oh, but I can and do, Ranger Cole. I most certainly do. You and my dear Commander are now the official Ranger and Babylon 5 liaisons to the Warrior Caste."

Susan finally got her voice back and tried to butt in with, "Sir, permission to speak freely –"

She was cut off with a firm, "Denied!" With Susan again silenced, he when on while smugly chortling, "Since you two have opened this can of worms, you are going to put them all back were they belong. You two are now Neroon's bested buddies, got it? Along the way, you will also complete your clerical duties as pertaining to your current and upcoming positions AND you will be making the proper apologies to the Warrior Caste leadership for trying to blackmail them, threatening them, insulting them and calling them out! AM I CLEAR!?" he finished with a barely controlled roar.

The two miscreants in question immediately belted out, "Crystal, sir!"

"Good! Oh, and Marcus, don't try and go behind my back and try to take this to Delenn, hmm?" At Marcus's disappointed look, Sheridan added, "You've both got to know that I already have that angle covered."

When Susan and Marcus morosely nodded in acceptance, Sheridan let up on them. "Look, I know this sucks, and I know that the situation wasn't all your fault nor were either of you in you right minds at the time, but way too much depends on everyone learning to get along. So, I can't let you two force the Satai and his brother into shouldering all the blame for the little "incident". You're going to have to compromise. And then, when your Healer lets you up, you'll have to learn to work with them. I hope you two are up on your civil engineering, because YOU"RE the ones that will have to build the real bridges, not Delenn."

When they just as morosely nodded again, Sheridan finished the comm. call with a consolation. "Good. For now, I'll get all your backlogs of work sent to you as long as Steven and you so-called "Devil Healer" approve it. Oh, and I'll add any leisure reading material you want and I can get my hands on to the pack. Just give me a list."


	11. Chapter 10

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Ten

To the Warrior Caste guards and aides as well as the Worker Caste retainers present, the scene was one that had been repeated thousands of times. The heirs to the Family of _Hel'Aia _(Strong Heart) were taking morning meal together before taking up their duties for the day. The table, as always, was set traditionally. The foods served were morning foods that were traditional for their family. On the outside, everything looked to be well ordered and so, well, so normal for these two Warriors.

Therefore, if one did not know the dynamics involved, one would think that this was indeed a normal breakfast shared by the two brothers. Of course, if one DID know the dynamics involved, one could see the tension that had both Sons of _Hel'Aia _wound tighter than a bowstring. One subject and one subject alone had brought on this tension. It was the need for the Warriors to meet with their Human guests.

Unfortunately, neither Warrior wanted to face that particular subject. They both knew that they had to speak to each other, let alone the Humans, about it but, in true Warrior Caste fashion, did not want to confront their own feelings of shame over the incident in medlab. Both Warriors had purposely avoided speaking of it for days. They'd even avoided it after they'd heard of Sheridan StarKiller's request to speak to his officers being granted. Now though, they could no longer avoid it, and Sarhat was willing to be the one to bring it up.

After silently dismissing their attendants and guards, Sarhat sighed and looked at his older brother over the rim of his teacup. "You know that we can't avoid this any longer, don't you?" he asked.

Neroon put down his eating utensils in disgust as he gave a sigh of his own. "Thank you so much, little brother. I will now be suffering from indigestion all day. Must you bring the subject up at morning meal?" groused the _Satai_ as he pushed his mostly full plate away from him.

Sarhat snorted in amusement at his brother's words. "Personally, I would _LOVE _to avoid the topic of our Human guests until the day Valen comes back to us wearing a Centauri Noble Lady's ball dress while spouting Brakiri love poetry written specifically for his Pakmara lover, but that option isn't available to us."

Neroon snorted and quickly put down the teacup he'd just pick up before he began laughing uncontrollably. Sarhat gladly joined him in that laughter. The _Alyt_ was happy that he could finally break the tension.

Finally, after getting control of himself Neroon shook his head and replied with a bit of wit of his own, "Since we're talking about Sinclair here, nothing would surprise me, brother, nothing at all. Not even the scenario you have just oh so artistically painted."

Both brothers were laughing again at that statement. Neroon went on once he had a bit of control of himself. "I would be careful saying such a thing out loud, little brother. The Humans have a saying, "Be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it," and wishing for a scene like that would probably break all the laws of space and time and bring down the wrath of an extremely angry Catharine Sakai on our heads, even if she does have to come back from the dead to extract her revenge! And from what I know of the Lady, she is – or was, as the case may be – every bit as dangerous as Commander Ivanova is."

Sarhart snorted at his brother's words. "Considering that she was the mother of our modern race, and what our Ladies are like now, I am not at all surprised. And speaking of Human Ladies…"

Neroon cut him of with a groan, "I know. Believe I know. So, which one of us does his impersonation of a belly crawling Centauri first?"

"Well, as Sech Turval says, "flip you for it?"" Sarhat replied.

Again Neroon snorted. "So long as you don't use that double-headed credit chit of his, why not?"

Again both brothers laughed over the statement. After having dug a credit chit out of his pocket, Sharhat mischievously said, "I still can't believe that Master Durhann hasn't caught on to what that old _gok_ has been doing these last few years."

"Oh, I think he has, but those two keep up the pretense for the fun of it. I think they do it so that they can feel as if Sinclair hasn't really left," Neroon answered with another shake of his head. "Now, let's get on with this little Human custom."

Sarhat held out the chit. "Call it."

"Heads," answered Neroon.

Sarhat flipped the chit into the air and caught it deftly as it came down. He then slapped onto the table. Both brothers looked down to see which side of the chit lay face up. It was indeed "heads" and Sarhat groaned.

"Looks like you get to punch a way through the opposition for me this time, little brother," Neroon gloated.

Sarhat said nothing as he shot his annoyance of an older brother a murderous look. The young _Alyt_ sighed as he got up from the table. There was no help for it, this discussion with the Humans had been put off long enough and he might as well get it over with. As he reached the door of the V.I.P. quarters, Neroon's voice stopped him.

"Now, did you really think I would send you into this fire alone? Come brother mine, we'll face this trial together, for united, we stand stronger," Neroon said as he walked up next to him.

Sarhat smiled gratefully. "Yes, united we stand stronger," he said as they walked out together.


	12. Chapter 11

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations. Mebels are the product of Monica's imagination.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Eleven

Marcus and Susan were both trying to eat their respectively bland and boring breakfasts when the two Warriors walked into Rama'Fi's jealously guarded little kingdom. (Which he thankfully had had to temporarily vacate due to a minor emergency on the engineering deck.) The sight of the brothers _Hel'Aia _brought all the activity within the medlab to a sudden halt and a tense silence fell. The sudden quiet got the two Humans' attention and they looked up in curiosity. When they saw the reason for the silence, both Humans were separately and suddenly glad that they hadn't been able to eat much of the pap that passed for their morning meals as the stomach churning anxiety that the two brothers had brought on would have made sure that they would have been parted from said pap in a most embarrassing fashion.

The now tense and anxious silence continued to stretch until Neroon gruffly ordered the medical staff out. The Minbari Healers left their posts quite reluctantly, all the while trying to catch the taciturn _Satai's_ eyes in order to try and change his mind about the order. Neroon coldly ignored them all as they dragged their feet almost to the point of insubordination. The medical staff did not wish to disobey the _Satai_, but knew that the punishments that the Chief Healer would meet out if anything befell his Human patients due to their leaving their posts would truly be worthy of his Human moniker; hence the extremely slow leave-taking.

While the _Ingata's_ Healers slowly shuffled their way out of the medlab, Neroon shot his younger brother an angry, scowling look that screamed, "is this what the discipline of MY ship has come to under your command?" Never one to be intimidated by his elder brother's infamous scowls, Sarhat simply shrugged in the universal, "Well, it was like this when I got here, so what the hell was I supposed to do about it?" way. Neroon deflated a bit, finally giving up on ever getting Sarhat to ever come close to respecting him in whatever office he held.

The _Satai_ snorted and shook his head at his younger brother's nonchalance. "Had I ever acted the way you do, young one, I would have been made to walk _Renna ra Ahael_ (the Road of Fire). The Elders of our Caste have much to answer for in regards to this… this pervasive laxness," he muttered while staring daggers at the last Healer as he finally removed himself from the medlab at an increased pace after hearing of one of the worst punishments that the Warrior Caste could meet out.

"And had I acted as any of you fools, I would have called myself blessed to just be named Outcast!" Neroon angrily spat out at Healers stilled milling about in the corridor just outside the medlab before slamming the auto-lock panel with his palm.

"In the Blessed Ancestors' Names! What is this Caste coming to?" the _Satai_ groused as the doors slid shut. He was angered by the fact that none of Healers seemed to have any respect for his Office, or him for that matter. He continued to grumble about the lack of discipline as he walked over to stand next Sarhat.

Sarhat just ignored his annoyed brother. The younger Warrior knew that there was nothing he could say to make the situation better. Nor was there anything that he could do about the _Ingata's_ "Devil Healer", who really was at the root the problem.

No _Alyt_ before him had ever been able to control Rama'Fi. For that matter, neither of the _Ingata's_ two most revered _Alyts_, Bramner nor Neroon, no matter how much they disputed the fact, had ever been able to rein the Healer in. And if THEY hadn't been able to do anything about that rabid hunting _mebel_ (Minbari "panther") disguised in a Healer's robe, then what did Neroon expect HIM to do about it? Sarhat snorted. He wasn't about waste valuable time and energy on an already and anciently lost battle.

While the Healers were leaving and Neroon was sniping, Susan and Marcus were having there own conversation, albeit a wordless one. All the communication was of the silent variety; expressed with arched eyebrows, wounded eyes, ground teeth, pensively bitten lips and sullen pouts. The sum of this "conversation" was that they agreed that there was no way to get out of this upcoming "show down". They also agreed that they hated it already.

Of course, Susan's little "gift" had a bit to do with all of this silent communication as well, as she made whatever use of it she could. The Commander was no longer afraid of using her weak telepathic skills. Well, she was no longer afraid of using her telepathy with Marcus - and only with Marcus. Their time together on Planet Hell had taught Susan that she could trust the Ranger with anything and visa versa.

She and Marcus had been experimenting with her touching his mind as a way to while away their sentences in this new he-- … um… make that pass the time in medlab. They of course only did that when no one was about, as they didn't want anyone to find out that Susan was telepathic. No matter what bridges they needed to build with the Warrior Caste, both were of a like mind on the "never show all of your cards" adage. It didn't hurt matters any that both thought that Susan's little gift could be of use in the upcoming negotiations. The fact that the Commander had more of an empathic ability than a telepathic ability seemed to be a bit of a sliver lining to them now. Besides, as Susan had once said… err… written, they couldn't "pull a Stalin" since they'd already admitted to speaking _Lenn'ah_.

That being said, Susan refused to be the first one to apologize. She was adamant that the Warriors were more in the wrong than they were and wanted to "see the pigs squirm" first. She just glared over her breakfast tray at the brothers while Marcus silently weighed the pros and cons of forcing the Warriors to apologize first.

The two Minbari ended up standing side-by-side in front of, and silently staring at the two Humans who were propped up by mounds of pillows and sitting up on their medlab platforms. Neither Warrior knew where to start the conversation since neither one had ever made such a horrendous social, not to mention political, gaffe before. Well, after another prolonged and tense silence, Marcus had had enough. The Ranger wanted this over with before the nausea got any worse. He took the lead and ended the Mexican Stand-off.

He lowered his eyes, bowed his head and greeted the two Warriors. "_Satai, Alyt,_ good morning to you both."

"_Anla'Shok_," both Warriors said at the same time and then looked at each other. After a bit of silent communication on the brothers' part, Sarhat swallowed hard, stepped forward and stood before the glaring Commander's platform.

The _Alyt_ formally bowed and said, "Commander Ivanova, I believe that you know why we are here." When Susan coldly nodded, he went on, "My Lady, I offer my sincerest apologies for my both uncouth language and behavior upon our meeting. My actions, let alone my words, were and insult both to you as a Warrior and as a Lady. I humbly ask that you accept my apology and allow me to redeem my self in your eyes."

Susan looked as if she wanted to yell and/or punch something before she finally resignedly sighed and replied with, "There is nothing that you need to apologize for, _Alyt_. You didn't even know that I was here when you came in. Therefore, how would you know that you needed to watch your language? As to that, as you've said, I too am a Warrior. I've heard a whole lot worse in my time - especially in boot camp! Our drill sergeant had a mouth on him that could strip metal." Susan chuckled a bit before she added, "And as Marcus can attest to, I've probably used language just as "colorful" a few times myself."

Sarhat mentally sighed in relief. The Commander was in a forgiving mood; something that their intelligence reports from Babylon 5 had said was extremely rare. He prayed that her mood would hold up as he continued, "Be that as it may, my Lady, I should have never used your demeanor to heckle the _Satai_. It was both a foolish and childish thing to do, and something far beneath both my rank and my Station. Again I offer my apologies for my actions and words."

Susan shook her head in denial. "Again, you have nothing to apologize for, _Alyt_ Sarhat. It was nothing more than humorous banter on your part and should have been taken as such on ALL our parts," Susan said before shooting an angry glare at Neroon who flushed in both anger and shame, much to her secret delight. She smiled sadly before adding, "And I know how it goes between siblings. I had an older brother once, too. We used act just like that."

Sarhat caught the fact the Susan used the word "had" instead of "have". The _Alyt_ simply looked at the Commander. He had a sinking feeling that he knew why she'd used past tense, but also knew that he had no right pry. The Warrior felt sadness well up inside of him at the knowledge that his Caste had taken so much from this Lady Warrior.

Susan caught the unspoken question in the Warriors' eyes. "The Line," she answered. It was all that needed to be said.

Sarhat sadly smiled at Susan before formally bowing again. "He must have been a strong and honorable Warrior, Commander, if you allow me to judge by your example."

Susan smiled and shook her head at the blatant "buttering up", but it was to be expected during a round of political schmoozing. "Ganya was a thousand times the officer I could ever hope to be," she replied.

This time it was Sarhat who shook his head. "I am sure that you exaggerate, Commander. May your brother walk in that place where no shadows fall, my Lady. I thank you for your understanding on this matter," he said.

Susan nodded to the _Alyt_. "Thank you for your condolences and again, you have nothing to apologize for."

Sarhat nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Marcus. "_Anla'shok_, I offer my apologies for my unacceptable language and behavior to you as well. I do realize that my actions were what precipitated all the later… unpleasantness."

Marcus bowed as formally as he could from his position. "I understand that nothing of what happened was meant, _Alyt_. I did not hear your words, and I hope that you did not hear mine," Marcus said, accepting the apology in the formal Minbari manner as well as tendering his own.

Sarhat smiled in relief. The _Anla'shok_ Champion understood their ways and practiced them as well. Thank Valen for small mercies! At least it wouldn't be a long drawn out process with him as it was with his Commander.

"No, Champion, I did not hear your words," he answered jut as formally before stepping back to stand by the still flushing Neroon.

Neroon had never felt this burdened with shame and anger before. He'd never felt such shame at his own actions before, not even when he'd been called before his family Matriarch to answer for some misdeed as a child. Nor had he felt as angry with himself. Had he simply kept control of himself and not reacted to the Commander's heckling, he wouldn't be in this situation now. Neroon hated that he had besmirched both his Family name and his Office and could barely handle what he knew that he had to do now. Finally, after yet uncomfortable another silence, the _Satai_ forced himself to act and stepped forward.

Neroon began with a formal bow to Susan as well before saying, "Commander, I speak all the languages of Minbar as well and Standard and Interlac. Yet I can say that even if I were to combine them all, there would not be enough words with which to tender an apology for the horrendous insult I have dealt you. You would be well within your rights to call for formal sanctions against me. If that is your wish, my Lady, I will personally see to it that the My Brethren are called to hear your grievance."

Marcus and Sarhat both gasped. They both knew that Neroon had just put his head on the proverbial chopping block before Susan. Marcus shot Susan a nervous look, hoping that she didn't understand exactly what Neroon was offering her.

Susan stared in shock at Neroon. From Sarhat and Marcus's expressions, she knew that Neroon was probably offering her the Minbari version of a court martial and/or impeachment hearing. She'd never expected the Warrior _Satai_ to actually take responsibility for what he'd done, let alone this! And that made the Commander feel guilty for her part in the mess. This of course confused her because she really didn't think that she and Marcus were in any way at fault. In turn that confusion made her angry and that had her feeling even guiltier, which made her even angrier. It took Susan a bit of time to sort herself out, and THAT made all three men in the room extremely anxious.

Finally, she answered, "No, _Satai_. I don't require that." All three men let out breaths that they hadn't known they were holding at those words. Susan went on from there, speaking plainly this time.

"Look, I know you lost it and let your mouth run away from you, but you only did it because I ganged up on you with your kid brother. If I hadn't heckled you to begin with, you probably would never have said something that bad. So, I'm just as much to blame," she said.

Neroon shook his head at Susan's speech. "I thank you for you kind words in trying to share the blame for my actions, my Lady, but no matter the provocation, I did not and do not have the right, nor does anyone, to slander you in such a way."

The Commander could actually feel the shame and guilt that Neroon was experiencing without even touching him. So far that kind of sensitivity had only been possible with Marcus. That meant that either her abilities were gaining strength or that Neroon's repentance was real. Susan was betting on the latter.

Susan sighed. It looked like the Warrior really did feel guilty for what he'd said. That called for full disclosure and an equal apology for trying to blackmail him. God, but she hated that type of quid pro quo! It went completely in face of the old B5 axiom of "Ivanova is always right".

"Well, if we're laying it all out on the table, then I didn't then and still don't have the right to throw your grief over _Shai Alyt_ Bramner's death in your face either," She replied, making sure not to bring up the little issue of "body snatching" again.

Neroon nodded solemnly. "I did not hear your words, Commander. At the time, you were grievously injured and not in complete control of your faculties. As such, you are in no way accountable for what had transpired."

Susan let out a breath of her own and nodded in return. "Well then, I accept your apology as well, _Satai_."

"Thank you for your understanding, Commander," Neroon said before turning to Marcus.

Marcus immediately lowered his eyes and bowed slightly in deference. _"In'a nee atha'ri ra raha. A'defa eh'rust, Satai_ (I have no words of excuse for my actions. I submit myself to your authority, _Satai_)," Marcus said formally, acknowledging both Neroon's position of authority and his own culpability in everything that had happened.

Neroon was immediately impressed both with Marcus's comportment and his understanding of Minbari protocol. He'd been surprised to see just how much the Ranger had reacted as a Warrior Caste Second would have during the "incident". Then, Marcus had surprised him yet again with his understanding of Minbari protocol when Sarhat had spoken to him, and now this. It would seam that the Champion was the most honorable of them all. He truly was worthy of his title.

Neroon nodded formally and then voiced his thoughts on the matter. "Of all of us, Champion, you are least to blame. Frankly, you had done nothing to apologize for. You acted just as a Second should; you spoke out and acted in order to protect you Commanding Officer. Your actions speak well of you."

Marcus was shocked to hear Neroon say that. By Minbari standards, Neroon had just given him a glowing compliment. "_Nie'__sus __ele eh' atha'ri.__ N__usen'taal,__ Satai, _(I am honored by your words. Thank you, _Satai_)," he murmured and again bowed as formally as possible and again impressing Neroon with his words and actions.

Neroon nodded to Marcus in acknowledgment and stepped back to again stand by Sharhat who said, "Commander, Champion, we both thank you for speaking with us. Now, I am sure that we have taken up more than enough of your time that could be better spent resting and recuperating. We should leave you to you morning meals."

Both Susan and Marcus snorted at that statement. Now that the situation had been dealt with, and it's accompanying stress-induced nausea had disappeared, neither Human wanted to face their so-called "morning meal". The now cold and congealed glop in their bowls in no way resembled food to either of them. The sarcastic phrases, "Gee thanks," and "Oh joy of joys" were muttered respectively.

Both Warriors chuckled at the looks on the Humans' faces as well as their words. They both knew what the_ Ingata's_ medlab food was like from experience. Sarhat took pity on the Commander and Ranger.

"Perhaps my Chef can find something that is both more appetizing and meets the Healer's guidelines. If you wish it, I can inquire," he asked.

Both Susan and Marcus looked up with hope shining in their eyes. "Yes!" Susan fervently said at the same time Marcus practically cried out, "Please do!" Everyone laughed at the Humans' enthusiasm.

"You know, as much as I learned to despise _flarn _during training, right now I wouldn't mind a plate of it," Marcus said in between chuckles.

"Here, here!" Susan seconded. "Even Delenn's _flarn_ would be better than this!" she said which had everyone chuckling again since the Priestess's lack of culinary skills was well known in the Federation. The "food poisoning incident" while she was still an acolyte assigned to Dukhat's primary aide had been so infamous that it was STILL making the rounds on the gossip circuit.

"And on that note, I do believe that we need to leave," Neroon said as he turned towards the door. Sarhat bowed to the Humans again and followed his brother out.


	13. Chapter 12

Title: A Bridge of Flames

Author: Third Charm

Fandom: Babylon 5

Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC

Story Type: Drama, Romance

Current Rating: M

Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.

Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.

Chapter Warnings: This chapter has not been beta read due to the fact that my poor beta is completely and utterly overwhelmed by real life at the moment, and I do NOT wish to add to her stress level. A beta read version of the chapter probably will be substituted for the current one at a later date.

Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.

Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.

Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.

Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations. Mebels are the product of Monica's imagination.

* * *

A Bridge of Flames

Chapter Twelve

It turned out that Sarhat and Neroon had made their escape from the medlab with an impeccable sense of timing. Not more than a few Standard minutes after the brothers left the medlab, Healer Rama'Fi and his most senior assistants returned with the injured Warriors and Worker Caste technicians from the engineering deck. The slightly harried Master Healer made note of the fact that most of his staff was still milling about outside of the medlab as his party approached and put the pieces together as to what he had missed. He also knew that the fallout from the confrontation had to have been minimal since the young ones were still away from their posts and so obviously gossiping, and THAT set his infamous temper off; that horrendous inattention to duty!

"And just what are you young fools doing out here?" he barked out as he came closer. "You all knew that we were coming with injured! Why are you not at your posts? Why are you not readying the medical supplies and equipment for incoming casualties? Or does the welfare of your crew mates mean nothing to this new generation of so-called Healers?" he raged.

The caught red-handed medical staff froze in place and stared, petrified with fear, at their now stone faced commanding officer. And, as those few who were newly posted to the _Sharlin_ were about to find out, that was a very BAD reaction to have. When none of his staff moved, the "Devil Healer" of the _Ingata_ let them have it full bore!

"Move you cud chewing, lolly gagging herd of stupid _Et'nishai_ (food beasts)! Move before I personally feed you all to the Ancient Enemy!" Move you bunch of pitiful, illegitimate issues of Centauri courtesans!" I SAID MOVE!" Rama'Fi screamed in a voice that would have made an Earth Force Marine drill sergeant proud.

At that very irate, extremely insulting and very, very LOUD scolding from their irate direct superior, the medlab staff literally found themselves jumping into action and ran into the medlab at all best speed. In the meantime, they had completely forgotten about their now completely emotionally and physically exhausted, and very hungry, human patients! As all Hell, pitiful pun that that was, seemed to break out around them, Susan and Marcus morosely resigned themselves to not getting any rest or hot, let alone edible, food for quite a while.

Luckily for Marcus and Susan, the young _Alyt_ of the _Ingata_ proved to be true to his word. Trays of sweet tea, soft _nata_ (sweet bread) and lightly spiced _flarn_ custard arrived from the galley amidst all the medical confusion, to the delight of the two humans. That's not to say that this feast came without a price.

Immediately upon leaving the medlab, Sarhat had broken away from his brother and had braved the inner sanctum of yet another _Aal_ (Master) of his profession. Sarhat had then "requested" that his personal Chef, _Aal'Del_ (Master Chef) Morann, "study the slight problem of their honored Human guests'" dietary requirements. After all, only HE was skilled enough to handle such a "diplomatically delicate" subject as the dietary needs of _Entil'Zha _Delenn's _Shai Be'Tri_ and the Second in Command of the Army of Light. Uh huh…

All right, let the truth be told here. Sarhat had first taken the high handed approach and ordered that Morann "handle" the issue, as he thought he could due to his new rank. _Riiight… _The galley staff got to see first hand where their inexperienced _Alyt_ made his first command mistake – and its fallout – of the day.

Now, what could that mistake have been? Oh, that's right! He'd tried to ORDER an ELDER, who just so happened to be a MASTER of his profession, to do something! What's more, he'd tried to order around an Elder and Master of a Caste that already felt that the Warrior Caste was arrogant enough, thank you very much, without having "their betters" pandering to their egos. Well, when that lovely tactic of "ordering" oh so obviously didn't work, he'd wheedled, flattered, blackmailed, begged, and finally outright conned the poor man into planning Marcus and Susan's menus.

Unfortunately for Sarhat, his incoming attitude wasn't his only problem. When he had volunteered to ask his Chef for help in regards to Susan and Marcus's meals, he'd forgotten that Morann was… um… just as "interesting a character" as Rama'Fi. He also had forgotten that the Master Chef was just as protective of HIS personal Kingdom, a.k.a. the ship's galley, as Rama'Fi was of the medlab.

That little slip of memory on the young _Alyt's_ part was where it all hit the fan with regards to the future interdepartmental peace of the _Ingata_. The rather haughty and frankly down right snobbish Chef had been more than just a bit put out that he had NEVER been consulted about the subject before. Therefore, and quite expectedly if Sarhat had even bothered to think about the consequences of his actions, the ranting at full volume began. And that went without mentioning the virulent anger and hurling of rather SHARP culinary utensils – all directed at him!

How dare those culinary barbarians in medlab give such prominent Humans such a terrible picture of Minbari cuisine? Wasn't a war of genocide that had been followed by the unbelievably asinine excuse of "Oops, this war was all a big mistake, pardon us?" and THEN having all that topped off by their current Commanding Officers foul mouths ENOUGH of an insult? Didn't they know, from first hand experience, mind you, that down to a ship, Family, Clan, Caste and Society as a whole, the Minbari had enough to live down after the deplorable actions of all their _Satais_, _Minsa'hats_ (Clan Leaders) and _Alyts_?

Seeing the Chef's rant was Sarhat's first true taste of just how much the rank and file of the Worker Caste had then and to that day STILL deplored the war with Earth, the burdens it and its aftermath had placed on the Workers, and what they saw as the high handedness of the Religious and Worker Castes. Not only did the Chef make his objections to the "arrogance and shear stupidity of today's youth" crystal clear, he also opened his young _Alyt's_ eyes to fractures in Minbari society that he had not known existed. And, as the only member of the Elite of one of the Castes the Workers held responsible for the messes that they had to constantly deal with and clean up after, the Chef of course took out his frustrations on Sarhat.

Needless to say, Sarhat found himself trying to perform the second "strategic tactical withdrawal" of that morning, this time failing miserably since he hadn't taken the rather LARGE hint of the rest of the galley staff's running for cover the second the _Aal'Del_ had started growling. He'd barely dodged the entirety Chef's personal cleaver and butcher knife set, taken two direct hits with at least partially filled tea urns, three more with _nata_ mixing bowls - one of which that still had had rising _nata_ dough in it - and one with a used _flarn_ grater before he'd made out the galley door. He'd then made his way as quickly as was possible to his quarters to clean up, change uniforms, regroup, and hopefully meditate some of the stress of the morning away before facing the rest of his duties of the day.


End file.
